


The Amity League Games

by ScarletHallow



Category: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, M/M, Romance, Shenanigans, i've never posted to ao3 before ahhh, more side-pairings listed inside, possible inaccuracies and oocness, rei/takao is one-sided
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26088409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletHallow/pseuds/ScarletHallow
Summary: With the re-establishment of the BBA comes an exciting event to commemorate its rise from the ashes: the Amity League Games, a new take on competitive beyblading. With an emphasis on teamwork, reunited members of top beyblading teams end up finding this an opportunity to explore blossoming affections both old and new--whether they might want to or not.
Relationships: Chen Mao | Mariah Wong/Kon Rei | Ray Kon, Hiwatari Kai/Mizuhara Max | Max Tate, Kinomiya Takao | Tyson Granger/Kon Rei | Ray Kon, Michael Sommers | Michael Parker/Johnny McGregor, Yuri Ivanov | Tala Valkov/Kinomiya Takao | Tyson Granger
Comments: 20
Kudos: 9





	1. A Small Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> it has been a long time since i've posted fanfiction, but i've been itching to write this one now that i've start re-watching Beyblade. it's kind of a rewrite/rework of one i started several years ago. i'm a little nervous but overall excited and would like to clarify some things: i'm only on season 1 currently, and it has been a long time since i've watched G-Revolution. while i've done my best to accurately reference it, some things may not entirely line up, but that's okay, since i'm adding some of my own spin on things. 
> 
> characters may be OOC, i've tried my best to keep them reasonably in-character while, again, applying some of my own takes. currently and the last time i rewatched Beyblade was in Japanese, so i'll be using the original names and basing things off of that, but i grew up with the dub so i still included certain elements of that (ie. kai being the captain of the BBA team). this story will be centered around the BBA team and the Euro Team.
> 
> main pairings: Kai/Max, Rei/Takao(one-sided), Michael/Johnny, Yuriy/Takao
> 
> side pairings: Rei/Mao, Ralf/Olivier, possibly others as the story further develops
> 
> i know a lot of the pairings in this aren't exactly the most popular, so i don't know how well-received this is going to be, but let's give it a go! also i've never posted to ao3 before ;;
> 
> edit: i'd been debating this for a while, because part of me wanted to keep elements of what i'd originally wrote, but i decided to go ahead and make this adjustment before the story went too far. it doesn't seem like much people are invested in it right now, so it seemed like a good time!

It had been a while since Takao had felt this restless with excitement, unable to sit still as he waited. He tried passing the time with some quick kendo training, but after realizing a few minutes into it that he was just repeating the same move, Takao decided to switch gears and turn his focus towards something a little more apropos. Freeing Dragoon from its place in Takao’s arm pouch, he quickly loaded his beyblade onto his launcher, standing above the practice beystadium in his backyard to ensure his grandfather wouldn’t have a reason to scold him later for scuffing up the dojo whenever Takao’s training got out of hand.

As Dragoon practically flew across the concave interior of the dish, however, Takao’s thoughts began drifting again, stomach churning with nerves. It had already been over a year since his clash with Brooklyn and the consequential damages that the city and Chairman Daitenji’s BBA suffered, but a lot had changed since then. Takao wasn’t able to see much of his old teammates these days, but they still kept in touch wherever they were with a few get-togethers now and then, some that other teams took turns hosting. The city had come to see steady but certain improvement from the destruction that had transpired, and the re-established BBA had begun working its way back up to its former glory. With that, however, also came some exciting news that had beyblade fans across the world buzzing with anticipation. It was news that left Takao restless with growing nerves and excitement that had increased with each passing day as the event drew nearer.

With only a few days to go, Takao was now anxiously waiting for his old BBA teammates’ arrivals. Chairman Daitenji, from what few tidbits he was willing to impart onto a very persistent Takao, had made a point of emphasizing a full team’s participation in the rumored beyblade tournament to come when the invitations had been sent out. It stated that further details would be shared once all the participating teams were gathered prior to the tournament’s official start, but Takao was already excited by the prospect of it—especially with that particular requirement outlined.

Of course, as most teams tended to consist of four members, Takao couldn’t help but feel bad and a little awkward breaking the news to Daichi of Takao reuniting with his original teammates for the event to come. After a lot of bickering and squabbling over the matter for a time, however, Daichi seemed reasonably content with being their back up player, in the chance something rendered Takao or the others unable to contend. He would at least be able to attend and spectate whatever was to come with Kyoujyu and Hiromi.

Takao took his eyes off of Dragoon as he looked around behind him. Speaking of them—it was unusual that neither of the three had arrived already, especially knowing that his old teammates were coming from outside Japan. Max had been spending a lot of time in America with his mom as of late, and Kai—well, Takao could only assume he was coming from out of the country. The guy wordlessly came and went wherever and whenever he pleased, so no one could blame Takao for not being able to keep tabs on him.

Last he heard, Rei had been visiting his home village in China with the rest of the White Tigers. Takao felt his stomach turn suddenly at the thought of the other blader, and Dragoon spun out at the bottom of the dish at that moment, having run out of stamina with Takao’s lack of focus certainly not helping. Takao stared down at his immobile beyblade with a sigh before stooping to pick it up, feeling annoyed with himself.

It had been a few months since he had last seen Rei; why were his emotions acting up like this again? Takao thought the distance between them—both figuratively and literally—would have quelled the aches in his chest whenever he let his mind become overrun with his former teammate. Of course, he had also thought the same thing after the BBA team had gone their separate ways after he won his first title as world champion, and then the same for the year after that, and then the year after _that_ —well, Rei had decided to go off with the White Tigers for that world championship, and while it hurt Takao for his teammates to distance themselves, he had tried looking on the brighter side when it came to Rei’s separation. Yet here Takao was, the same flutter in his chest like back when he first realized his feelings towards Rei had changed into…something more.

“Takao? Are you there?”

His insides momentarily went cold when he recognized that voice. Swallowing thickly, Takao quickly placed Dragoon back into his pouch before turning to face Rei as the other blader made his way around to the backyard in search of him. Takao put on a characteristic jovial smile once their eyes met, but his nerves were shot. Why did Rei have to be the first one to arrive? Takao had been expecting Kyoujyu or Hiromi, Max or Daichi—maybe even Kai, as mysterious as his entrances and exits were.

“Hey, Rei! It’s been a while!” Takao walked up to the Chinese blader before they clasped hands in greeting. On the outside Takao was fine, grinning and nodding as Rei spoke of his travels to get there, but his insides were squirming. Takao felt annoyed with himself, exhaling sharply under his breath as he and Rei retired to the dojo’s interior to wait for the others.

Rei was his friend—his _good_ friend, in spite of the distance that had grown between them all, so it made no sense for Takao to feel so uncharacteristically flustered around him. Maybe the distance was the reason, Takao thought to himself. He just needed time to get used to Rei again, and sure, every once in a while Takao might act a little squirrelly around him, but that would be much better than whatever was going on with him now.

“Are you okay?” Rei asked with a concerned furrow in his brow upon noticing Takao’s silence. “I’m not boring you, am I?”

Takao’s head quickly shot up to meet Rei’s eyes. “Huh? Oh—no! Not at all.” He let out a laugh. “You were saying you came with the White Tigers?”

“Yeah.” Rei nodded at this with a smile. “They’re participating as well, so it just made sense for them to come along with me.”

“Where are they now? Staying at a hotel?”

Rei nodded again. “They’ve gone ahead to where we’re all going to be staying once this tournament thing starts. Speaking of—heard anything more about it?”

“Noo!” Takao’s head flopped forward in a dejected manner before peeking up at Rei. “I’ve been asking and asking, but they finally told me I had to stop or I wouldn’t be able to participate!”

“Hah! How would the great Kinomiya Takao be able to come out on top then? Maybe I can become the champion with you on the bench.”

Takao gave him a little smirk. “Hey, I’d gladly give up winning more titles if it means I can still play on the same team as you.” Thinking his wording may have been too specifically geared towards Rei, Takao quickly added, “And Kai and Max, of course. The whole gang!”

“Yeah,” Rei smiled. “The whole gang. I’m surprised I’m the first one here.” He glanced around the empty dojo before looking back at Takao, who gave a small shrug as he averted his gaze. Secretly Takao wished Kyoujyu or Max would show up already to lighten things up a tad—not that he wasn’t enjoying Rei’s company, but Takao was just feeling hyperaware of everything he was doing and saying around the other blader.

“Eh, I’m sure the rest are on their way! If Daichi crosses paths with Hiromi on the way over, we’ll hear their bickering from miles away while Kyoujyu tries and fails to diffuse the situation.” Takao snickered at this.

“Max will be a little more subtle with his entrance, but I feel like we’ll still definitely be able to hear him when he gets here.” Rei joined in on the theorizing with a grin, appearing to recount some of Max’s more rambunctious tendencies depending on his mood.

Takao sat up a little straighter as his smile widened. “And once everyone’s already here, Kai will just appear out of nowhere without a word, being all moody in one of the corners. I swear, that guy can phase in and out of walls or something. Here one second, gone in the next!”

“No, yeah, that sounds like Kai.” Rei chuckled at this, leaning back a bit. “He’s definitely lightened up some though, huh? From when we first met him, at least.”

“I guess you’re right.” Takao thought about his last interactions with the aloof blader as he crossed his arms. “I mean, as much as a guy like Kai _can_ lighten up.”

Rei, leaning back on his elbows now, didn’t say anything in response but acknowledged Takao with a smile and nod. Takao in turn scratched at his cheek, feeling a lull in the conversation creeping onto them as he wracked his brain for another topic. Just as he was about to ask Rei about the White Tigers, both paused as they heard the distant sounds of conversation around the front of Takao’s house. They looked at one another in pleasant surprise before quickly getting to their feet and heading out to see who all had arrived, soon spotting Kyoujyu, Hiromi, and Daichi crossing beneath the archway. Just as Takao had predicted, Hiromi and Daichi were squabbling as Kyoujyu could only awkwardly trail after them, soon perking once he noticed Takao and Rei.

“Guys!” The relief was evident in his voice, and Hiromi turned her attention away from Daichi to look, soon smiling as she waved at them. Just like that, the bickering had come to an end as the trio walked over to meet them.

“Hey! You finally made it.” Takao grinned around at them as Rei exchanged his greetings as well. “You guys didn’t happen to spot Maxie on the way over, did you? Maybe even Kai?”

“What, are we not good enough for you?” Hiromi teased with an arch of her brow.

“Besides, wouldn’t we have come along with them if we had seen them?” Daichi prompted as he crossed his arms behind his head.

“Max? Yes. Kai? Maybe not.” Rei tilted his head, catching Takao’s eyes and prompting the two of them to chuckle as they recalled their earlier conversation.

Daichi scrunched his nose. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” Takao waved a hand with a smile before addressing them fully. “Well, let’s go wait in the dojo for now. I can go grab us some tea or something.”

“I’ll come with you,” Rei said as the group began heading inside. Takao gave his teammate a look of appreciation, ignoring the flutter in his chest as he guided the rest inside. Once the trio was situated, Takao and Rei moved towards the main part of the house to fetch the refreshments while they waited.

“Is your grandpa out?” Rei asked, giving the place a onceover as he followed Takao into the kitchen.

“Yeah, he’s running some errands…I think.” Takao’s brow furrowed as he thought about it for a second before shrugging, soon moving around the kitchen to grab what he needed. Glancing over at Rei, he watched the other blader look around the kitchen with some familiarity, and Takao recalled once more how long it had been since he last had Rei or any of the BBA team members over.

“Need help?” Rei walked over to Takao as said blader finished placing the mugs of tea and plates of snacks onto a tray.

“Nah, I got it—” Takao had just gone to pick it up, but Rei swooped it out from under him, flashing him a cheeky grin as he started heading back towards the dojo with the tray in his hands. Takao blinked after him, feeling a bit of warmth in his cheeks before shaking it off and following Rei. Trust him to usurp Takao’s role as the hospitable host to play the gracious guest.

“Hey, guys!” Hiromi looked around at them as they re-entered the dojo. “Look who finally made it.”

Takao’s brows rose at her exclamation before noticing the familiar blond sitting among them, a grin erupting across Takao’s face that was mirrored on Max’s expression upon the two noticing one another.

“Maxie!” He was glad that Rei had taken the tray now, as the two of them quickly collided in a tight hug. “Geez, what took you so long?”

“Oh, a little of this, a little of that.” Max laughed before turning to greet Rei. “Hey! How were things back home?”

“Everything’s been great, honestly.” Rei smiled. “The White Tigers have been great, Mao’s been great—”

“Oh my gosh, Mao!” Hiromi perked at the sound of her friend’s name as Takao’s insides went a little cold as confusion took over. Why had Rei felt the need to single her out? “I haven’t been able to see her in a while. She’s gonna be in the tournament with the rest of her team, right?”

“For sure. Everyone’s looking forward to it…”

Takao involuntarily tuned out the rest of the conversation as he sat down, Max settling beside him. His heart was pounding as various thoughts and theories tumbled through his head. Were Rei and Mao together? That honestly shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but… Takao swallowed thickly, aware that Max was looking at him a little curiously. Takao smiled in what he hoped was a normal manner before looking back at him.

“What’s up, Max?”

“You doing okay?” His blond eyebrows rose a tad as he asked, concern evident in his eyes. Takao waved a hand as though it would wave the bad thoughts in his head away as well.

“I’m fine! How’ve you been? How was America?”

“Oh, good.” Takao could tell Max was still a little thrown by his abrupt change in attitude. “It’s kind of hard going back and forth between America and Japan, but it’s worth it to be able to see both of my parents, you know?”

“Totally.” Takao nodded a little too emphatically, still trying to tune out whatever it was that Rei and Hiromi were discussing. He hoped they still weren’t talking about Mao. Takao had nothing against her; he just didn’t want to know if she and Rei were finally together just yet.

“So…” Max leaned back on his hands, glancing around at the others in the misshapen circle they were all sitting in. Takao noticed Max had sit in such a way that left a spot open. “I take it Kai hasn’t shown up yet?”

“Nah.” Takao gave a small shrug, resting his elbow on his thigh so he could prop his chin onto his palm. “You know how he is, Max; the guy is an enigma.”

“Heh, yeah.” Max had put on a smile, but Takao thought he might have looked a little disappointed. His eyebrows knitted together, but he didn’t have further time to dwell on it before he realized Daichi was calling out to him.

“Hey! Are you even listening?”

“Huh?”

“I was asking about the tournament, you goof.”

“What _about_ the tournament, squirt?”

Daichi gave a little sniff, arms crossing. “The details! What’s it all about? There’s no way this is replacing the world championships, right?”

“I know just as much about it as you, Daichi.” Takao crossed his arms in return. “Trust me, I’ve tried weaseling out all I can before they told me to lay off. I don’t need to remind you what we already discussed, do I?”

The younger blader, sitting cross-legged, began bouncing one of his knees up and down impatiently. “Geez, you’d think they would’ve told you more, of all people.”

Takao shrugged as he looked down at the floor. “I’ll be finding out when everyone else is, I guess. I know Chairman Daitenji isn’t replacing the world championships, though. This is probably something to commemorate how far the BBA’s come over the past year.”

This caused the others to launch into another conversation, one where they recounted all that had happened as well as theories about what the upcoming tournament would fully consist of with such an emphasis on teamsmanship. Takao was only partially listening to their exchange, glad that the topic was no longer revolving around Rei’s potential romantic relationship. Noticing that Max didn’t seem to be part of the conversation either, Takao chanced a glance at his friend.

Max only appeared to be half-listening as well. Occasionally he would smile and nod as one of the others prompted him for a response, otherwise Max toyed with one of his shoelaces while glancing around the dojo every now and then. In one of these instances, he caught Takao’s eyes. The two gave one another a brief smile before Takao shrugged one of his shoulders, Max’s smile widening a tad as he seemed to understand. Both were glad to be in the company of their friends, but it seemed like their thoughts were preoccupied with other things—things that might not have had to do with the special event.

Takao released a quiet sigh before trying to engage himself in the conversations taking place, taking a peek at Rei as he was listening to something Kyoujyu was saying. There was a tight feeling in his chest as he watched the other blader. Things were less than ideal now, sure, with Takao feeling like his secret pining for Rei was getting in the way of his focus and excitement for what lay ahead of them, but he knew from experience his surge of emotions would eventually settle after acclimating to Rei’s presence again.

Certainly, the potential news of him and Mao had, strangely, blindsided Takao, but he was determined to prevent that from putting a damper on things and getting in the way of his and Rei’s friendship. He couldn’t afford to lose his focus when a widely anticipated beyblading tournament was nearly upon them—one that Takao knew he needed to give his all if he didn’t want to let his teammates down.

* * *

Max was a little glad to see he wasn’t the only one feeling a little out of it within their group. Takao seemed strangely subdued for a moment there, and while eventually he regained his usual composure, Max still got the sense something was a little off with him. Of what, he couldn’t know for sure, but now certainly wasn’t the time to pester Takao about something he might not even want to talk about.

While Takao seemed to be working through his own issues, Max knew what his problem was. His decision to travel between America and Japan was definitely one that had cost him time with his good friends, but Max had come to make peace with that decision, knowing everyone else had their own stuff going on and that they would always remain friends. The problem was that while everyone else kept in contact with him without issue, Kai seemed to want to be left alone. Well, no—that wasn’t entirely true. Once in a blue moon Max would receive a response from Kai in the form of a letter or email, but their contents always divulged little of the ongoings of his former captain’s life.

Fed up with this, there had been one instant where Max had been able to get the number of Kai’s current place of residence at the time, thanks to a slightly irate Yuriy after a lot of persistence on Max’s end. When Kai had answered and realized who he was speaking with, Max had partially expected the older blader to immediately hang up after he got over the shock of actually speaking with Kai after so long. He, admittedly, had harbored a tiny suspicion that Yuriy might have fed him some made-up number to get Max off his back.

When Kai stayed on the line, however, Max had seized the opportunity to get what information he could—how Kai was doing, what all he was up to, where had he been… Things that Kai had no issue asking Max about the few times he responded, always careful to avoid sharing too much of his own life. It kind of hurt, like Kai thought Max wasn’t a good enough companion to speak to about personal stuff despite all they and the other BBA members had been through, and Max had unintentionally blurted this out during their phone call. Before Kai could even respond, however, Max had quickly brushed past it into another random discussion, hoping Kai would let it slide without acknowledging it.

He did, much to Max’s relief, but after their call finally ended with Kai reminding him of the difference in their time zones, Max felt frustrated with himself. Mostly because of his stupid and embarrassing confession about his bruised ego, but also because he forgot to ask Kai about the possibility of more phone conversations if he was going to remain brief in their written correspondence. With his former captain as aloof as he was, Max doubted the number Yuriy had given him was reliable for future use. He had tried calling it again a few days later, but all he got was an automated voice telling him it was no longer in service. It only brought him little comfort to know that Kai was just as stingy with the details of his personal life when it came to Takao and Rei as well, as he had brought this up to them last they saw each other, but Max didn’t understand why Kai always had to remain at arm’s length, never really letting anyone close.

It was something that Max had wanted to work his way up to talking about when he saw Kai in person, but it looked like he wasn’t going to get that chance. While Takao seemed distracted in his own right, Max knew what was troubling him, but he didn’t really know why. Why was it bugging him this much that Kai hadn’t bothered to show up? He had wanted to see Kai with the others, wanted to talk to him, but his absence shouldn’t be affecting Max as much as it was.

Maybe—and this was an extraordinarily embarrassing thing for him to consider—Max thought he had started to have something special with Kai the way the others had. Takao and Kai had their intense rivalry going on since the moment they met, going head-to-head and bringing out the best in each other during their beybattles, even if they often didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye on a personal level. Rei and Kai shared a common ground in their personalities, their ability to remain cool and levelheaded, and it didn’t hurt that Rei often gave him a run for his money in battle either. And what was Max to Kai compared to all of that? Some loud-mouthed kid that got lucky in one beybattle against him ages ago? He was stupid to think one phone conversation he got that Takao and Rei didn’t was going to change that.

“I think it’s time for us to start heading back,” Kyoujyu announced as he got to his feet, his beloved laptop clutched in his grip. Max blinked, pulled from his thoughts as he looked around and realized evening was already almost fully upon them.

“Yeah.” Hiromi got up in agreement, stretching her arms above her head before looking down at the rest. “What about you guys? Gonna stick around a little longer to discuss tournament strats?”

“Maybe,” Takao hummed after looking between Rei and Max.

“I’ll go ahead and excuse myself, then,” Daichi grumbled as he got to his feet as well. Max gave him a sympathetic smile as Takao reached out to him.

“Come on, Daichi, we talked about this!” He flashed the younger blader a grin. “You’re still a member of the team. You know—one of the guys!”

“Ugh, don’t start with that sap.” Daichi gave an exaggerated shudder before smirking at Takao. “Even if we don’t know what to expect, none of you guys better start slacking, or I might just be a playing member after all!”

Takao returned the look before waving his hand at them toward the door. “Yeah, yeah. Hurry and run along home now.”

Daichi stuck his tongue out at him before darting from the dojo, Hiromi and Kyoujyu giving their proper farewells before taking their leave. The original members of the BBA team remained where they sat, Takao flopping onto his back with a sigh as Rei spoke up.

“I wonder if maybe Daichi really will end up being our fourth member.” His eyebrows rose in a pointed manner, and both Max and Takao knew what he was referring to—or rather, who he was referring to.

“Hm.” Takao propped himself up a bit onto his elbows. “We never really did get a definite confirmation from Kai, huh?”

“He’ll be there,” Max found himself saying assuredly. “He might not have shown today, but Kai will be there.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time he’s crossed over, though.” Takao gave a wry smile at the memory of Kai’s ever-changing allegiance in the past. “What’s another stab in the back, huh?”

Max bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from blurting out the first thing that popped into his head in order to defend Kai, wary that he’ll end up embarrassing himself. Instead he said, “Hey, Kai’s different now! Besides, I thought the two of you were getting along pretty well these days—err, whenever it was you two saw each other last.”

Takao looked over at him with an apologetic smile, apparently having noticed Max’s initial reaction to his snark. “I was just kidding around, Max. And yeah, I guess… It’s just annoying that he keeps to himself most of the time, especially during times like these when it’d be _really great if he’d get involved every once in a while!_ ”

Max blinked at Takao’s suddenly very pointed tone of voice, both him and Rei following Takao’s line of sight and jumping upon noticing Kai lingering in the doorway, silent and his expression as impassive as ever.

“Kai!” Max exclaimed excitedly before he could help it. Beside him, Takao looked over at Rei with a grin and said, “What’d I tell ya?” Part of Max was a little confused at the apparently private exchange between the two of them, but he was mostly focused on Kai soundlessly moving over to join them on the floor, taking the spot on Max’s other side with his arm coming to rest on his elevated knee.

“Thank you for finally gracing us with your presence.” Takao gave an ironic little bow of his head and gesture of his hand as though Kai was royalty.

“We were starting to think you weren’t gonna make it.” Rei smiled across at him. “You just missed the others.”

“I’ll live,” Kai said at last, eyes closing briefly for a moment. Max took this as a quick opportunity to study him, wondering if Kai had just flown in from out of the country before making his way over. He thought he could see some dark circles beneath Kai’s eyes, but the shadows his long bangs were casting made it hard to tell.

“How have you been, Kai?” Max prompted, moving to cross his legs and lean towards him a little. “Did you just get back to Japan?”

Kai opened his eyes, meeting Max’s briefly before he looked elsewhere. “Fine,” he replied, apparently choosing to ignore Max’s second question as though even that much was too personal for him to know. Max felt a small pang of disappointment at how closed off he was being, but at least Kai had shown up after all, right?

“Good to see you too, old pal o’ mine,” Takao said a little sarcastically before sitting up a tad. “So, _you_ haven’t heard much else about this upcoming tourney, have you?”

“Not more than what most people already know.”

“Hm…” Max could tell that maybe Takao had been thinking that somehow Kai would know more than they did, which wasn’t exactly farfetched of him. Max wouldn’t have been surprised if Kai did.

“Well, whatever it is, I’m sure all this mystery and suspense will be worth it,” Rei mused before looking over at Takao. “Didn’t you say something about some invite confirmations coming in today from other teams?”

Takao perked up. “Oh, yeah! _That_ much the chairman could share with me, but…probably because the participating teams would be announced in the news anyway.” He rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward chuckle.

“Ooh!” Max’s brows shot upwards. “Who all are supposed to be coming? I haven’t really heard anything yet.” He had been a little preoccupied with other things to be paying much attention to the news.

“Let’s see… The White Tigers, of course, then there’s the PPB All Starz, F-Sangre… I’m pretty sure the Battalion is coming as well. I think Chairman Daitenji is still waiting to hear back from Neo Borg and the Euro Team, though.”

“Wow,” Rei grinned, “seems like we’ll have some pretty decent competition.”

“Hell yeah!” Takao smacked his palm with his fist. “It’s been so long since I’ve had a beybattle in an official setting… I can’t wait to see what this tournament’s gonna be all about.”

“Especially since it sounds like it’s really gonna be team-oriented.” Max glanced around at them all with a grin. “We’ve got this in the bag, right?” He involuntarily looked briefly at Kai, who he thought might have given him a twitch of a smile in encouragement before Max averted his gaze. He didn’t want it to seem like he was fixating on him.

“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, now.” Rei chuckled to indicate he was mostly joking rather than outright denying their abilities as a team. “We do know that the other teams we’ll be facing off against have a history as well, so we don’t necessarily have an advantage.”

“I say we do!”

“Rei’s right,” Kai interjected before Takao could launch into a spiel about love and friendship overcoming all obstacles. “We’re not going to be doing ourselves any favors by getting a big head and underestimating our opponents, even if this is some off-tournament.”

“Kai has a point,” Max piped up, having noticed the twitching in Takao’s eye. “Him and Rei both do. We can be cautious _and_ have fun with the other teams! Right, Takao?”

Takao grumbled under his breath. “I guess…”

“Speaking of history among teams…” Rei pushed himself upright. “I’ll probably start heading back now. I’m staying with the White Tigers for the moment.”

“Oh, okay.” Max noticed Takao’s demeanor change slightly at this. Maybe he had imagined the slump in his friend’s shoulders.

“I guess I’ll head home, too.” Max got to his feet as well, as did Kai. “But we’ll be meeting up again soon, right? At the new BBA building?”

“Definitely.” Takao gave a firm nod of his head, but Max could still see a trace of lingering disappointment in his eyes. He frowned a little to himself as the four began heading out of the dojo and around to the front of the Kinomiya residence to bid their temporary farewells. Max hesitated, looking between Takao and his off mood and Kai’s steadily retreating back as his teammates were starting to go their separate ways.

“Something the matter, Max?” Takao had taken notice of his hesitance, an eyebrow raised.

“Um…” Max glanced between the two before angling his body away. “Nothing! I’ll—I’ll talk to you later, Takao!”

Max felt guilty as he jogged to catch up to Kai. He swore he would check in on Takao first thing the next day, but the opportunities to speak with Kai were far and few between. It didn’t help that he had shown up towards the end of it all.

“Kai!” Max called out as he caught up to him, surprised at how breathless he was from the distance he had to close. He just pegged it on Kai’s height; his longer legs definitely gave him an unfair advantage. “Wait up!”

Kai didn’t stop outright, but he slowed a little and looked out of the corner of his eyes down at Max in acknowledgement.

“Can I walk with you?” Max asked, giving him a smile. “I just—We didn’t really have a time to catch up back there.”

Kai looked forward again, his demeanor unchanged. “Okay,” he said simply, and he continued to walk at his original pace with Max cheerfully tagging along beside him.

“So…” Max fell into step with him. “How was the flight over?”

“Fine.”

“Anything interesting happen?”

“No.”

“Are you excited about the tournament?”

Max had to look up at him when he didn’t receive a verbal response. He thought Kai might have shrugged at the question, but if he did, the action had been as half-assed as the answers he was giving. Max couldn’t help but sigh a little to himself, wondering if Kai would be just as resistant had it been Rei or Takao talking to him. Still, Max remained undeterred. Kai was still one of his good friends, even if the feeling may not have exactly been mutual.

“How have you been, Max?”

The question momentarily threw him through a loop, having expected them to walk in silence from then on. Max quickly recovered, however; this is what Kai had done during their phone call and previous times they had spoken with one another: carefully evade prying questions about himself but lend a quiet ear to listen in return.

“Good! I’ve been good.” Max smiled, happy that the conversation hadn’t trailed off into silence. “Great, actually. It’s nice being back home, and I’m psyched about the tourney. Especially with the four of us back together again.”

He grinned up at Kai as he said this, and Kai glanced down at him with a slight tilt of his eyebrow as though amused by Max’s eagerness for camaraderie. Max took this as a good sign and considered his next question, wondering if it still might be too personal for Kai’s very specific taste.

“Do you think Neo Borg will end up participating?” He chanced another glance at Kai, who gave a low hum of consideration.

“Maybe. If they’ve been willing enough to show up to mingle at those little parties the other teams have hosted in the past, I don’t see why they wouldn’t be interested in this. Not when there’s competitive beyblading involved, at least.”

“That’s a good point.” Max had already assumed Kai was in regular contact with the Russian bladers what with Yuriy’s previous help getting his temporary number, and him being aware of Neo Borg’s presence at the get-togethers while Kai himself had been absent seemed to further confirm that. He wondered why the same couldn’t be applied to him and the rest of the BBA members.

Max blinked when he noticed Kai had come to a stop. He realized they had reached an intersection, and Kai seemed unwilling to go further as though he might end up revealing exactly where it was he was staying for the time being. Max wanted to talk for a while longer, but he decided not to push his luck.

“So, guess I’ll see you later?” His statement ended up hanging in the air as a question, the note of uncertainty indicative of Max’s doubt that Kai may or may not show up to the event after all.

“Yeah. At the new BBA building.”

Max smiled at this, pleasantly surprised when Kai gave a small one in return. “Yeah?”

Kai nodded before averting his gaze, his chin tucking further behind his trademark scarf so Max could no longer tell if he was still smiling or not. With his own grin still on his face, Max tucked his hands into his pockets.

“Then I’ll see you there.”

Kai gave another nod before turning to leave, Max watching him go for a little while longer. The ends of his scarf trailed after him, and they were the last things Max saw of the other blader as he turned the corner, out of sight. It wasn’t the deeply fulfilling conversation Max had hoped to have, but it was better than having gotten nothing at all. Besides, there would be more opportunities now that the original BBA team was back together, and if Kai really wanted Max to leave him alone and back off, he would have no trouble letting that be known.

Max turned to leave himself, his smile still lingering on his face, before he stopped short, just then realizing where he was.

“Ahh…dammit.”

In his haste to catch up with Kai, Max had let the other blader lead him in the exact opposite direction of where his dad’s house was. 


	2. Europe's Finest and Conflicting Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Euro Team comes to a conclusion while Takao tries to sort things out, all while more teams arrive for the nearing start of the tournament.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof this took longer to post than expected. i've been writing around work and actually finished this a few days ago, but i just needed to find the time to re-read and edit! i'll probably start on some beyblade fanart i've been itching to do before getting started on the next chapter (my tumblr art blog is scarlethallowart, btw). i'm also extremely tempted to get started on a beyblade fantasy au fic i've been thinking about the past week, but i'll try to hold off on that one until this one is finished or close to being finished.
> 
> also, sorry the fic is kind of heavy on the more emotional stuff right now, haha. i promise things will start kicking up soon.

The skies above Castle Jürgens were a cloudless clear blue, and it was the reason Johnny found himself with his teammates sitting outside in the garden upon Olivier’s insistence to enjoy the pristine weather. He absently stirred his straw around in the iced drink Ralf’s butler had brought out for them all, only partially paying attention to what the other three were discussing.

“Well?” Olivier was looking at Ralf expectantly as their captain finished reading the letter that was in his hands—an invitation for some sort of beyblading shindig that the BBA was hosting in Japan soon.

Ralf, setting the letter down onto the table, folded his hands together as he looked around at them all. “It’s whatever you all want to do.” That was Ralf’s way of letting them know he didn’t really care either way, though he probably would have passed it as a captain taking his teammates’ feelings into consideration, now that they were all about the whole team thing.

“Olivier and I are up for it,” Giancarlo said quickly, the two of them sharing mirrored grins before he cast Johnny a sly glance. “As for our fourth… Well, I guess the majority wins in this case, right?”

Johnny looked up at him with a half-hearted scowl. “You can’t force me to participate, now, can you?”

“Why wouldn’t you want to go?” Olivier leaned towards him with a look in his eyes that was both curious and a little pleading, as if missing out on this event would really be that big of a deal. “We missed our opportunity at the last world championships! Our fans are just _dying_ to see us in action again!”

“Plus…” Giancarlo was looming over him, one of his brows wiggling. “A lot of the other top beyblading teams will be there! You saw how fierce the competition was last time—imagine being able to go head-to-head with everyone for a change.”

Johnny, leaning back in his seat now with his arms folded across his chest, considered this. The Euro Team had come a long way since they first decided to enter the past world championships as an actual team for once. Their cooperation had undergone significant improvement, and their feelings toward beyblading had changed as well from when they first encountered the BBA team. Giancarlo had also significantly improved his relationship with Amphisbaena, but their opportunity to showcase all that had been snuffed out thanks to Barthez’s underhanded tricks.

Now, as Giancarlo and Olivier were pointing out, this upcoming tournament would be an opportunity to let others know what the Euro Team was really made of, but Johnny had his doubts.

“Wouldn’t it give us the advantage in the actual championships to _not_ show off for this…whatever-this-is?” He cocked a brow as he looked between the two of them.

“That’s true…” Olivier said slowly, but he quickly smiled again. “Still! Even though this is technically competitive beyblading, it’s supposed to be different from the beybattles that we’re used to. We can strategize for this one and still show up the other teams when the championships are reinstated.”

That was a reasonably sound argument, but Johnny just didn’t feel like participating. It seemed more like something put together for fun, and he would rather spend his time on things that actually mattered. Just as he was about to voice this, however, he noticed the subtle smirk on Giancarlo’s face as he stared him down.

Johnny felt irked by this. “What?” he said immediately, his crossed arms tensing. Giancarlo’s smirk only widened, and instead of providing an answer, he grabbed Johnny by the arm and abruptly pulled him up.

“No questions now, Johnny, just come with me!”

“Wha— _Hey!_ ”

Giancarlo dashed for the privacy of indoors, Johnny stumbling after him in the way he was, quite literally, being dragged against his will. He felt his annoyance spike when his teammate finally relinquished him, separated from the rest of the team by the walls of Ralf’s castle.

“What the hell was that for?” Johnny snapped, rubbing at his arm before crossing both of them again. He would give the other blader about five seconds before socking him upside the head…

“Johnny, Johnny, Johnny…” Giancarlo shook his head melodramatically before beginning to pace back and forth. “I’ve gotten to know you very well over the past few years, and I know what you might be thinking: this tournament is pointless! There’s no prize of winning the title as champion! My time is better spent doing something else!”

Johnny said nothing, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right as Giancarlo flashed him a knowing grin. Instead, he tilted his chin up a tad and said, “So? What’s your point?”

“My _point_ is that I have some information that may change your mind about going.”

“Somehow I doubt that.” Johnny did his best to look disinterested, but inside his mind was reeling as he tried to think back. Was there something that Giancarlo was trying to blackmail him with, or was he bluffing? Maybe dragging him away from Olivier and Ralf was just for show.

“We’ll see about that.” Giancarlo stopped his pacing to flash him a wicked grin. “If this really doesn’t tickle your fancy, I’ll drop it, but if you want to know more…we’re all going to be participating in this little shindig, deal?”

Johnny grunted. “Fine.”

“Great!” Giancarlo was all business again. “As you might know, I’ve gotten pretty chummy with members of the other teams at the little get-togethers they’ve hosted. Because of that, I’ve gotten my hands on some pretty tantalizing information—about _you_.”

Again, Johnny wracked his brain for anything incriminating he might have said or done, but nothing was coming to mind. He had been to a few of them, but he couldn’t recount doing anything particularly memorable. Maybe Giancarlo really was full of shit.

Apparently taking note of the growing doubt in Johnny’s expression, Giancarlo pressed forward. “And sure, you might be thinking: I’m a stick-in-the-mud! What could _I_ have done that could be this interesting?”

“Watch it,” Johnny growled, but Giancarlo continued as though he hadn’t heard him.

“But I’m here to tell you, Jonathon, that I have some pretty juicy gossip that does, yes, actually involve you!” Giancarlo put on an infuriatingly smug look on his face. “A little birdie told me that a fellow blader has taken a shine to you, so to speak.”

Johnny’s brows furrowed slightly in confusion. “What, they’re a fan or something? They like my blading style?”

“No, no, you misunderstand.” Giancarlo gave a hearty chuckle, and Johnny knew with another spike of annoyance that he had misled him on purpose, clearing enjoying dangling this over Johnny’s head. Whatever _this_ was. “What I mean to say is, this blader has taken a fancy to you.”

“What?” His confusion somehow increased even though Giancarlo had plainly clarified it. “As in _likes_ me?”

“Yes!” Giancarlo’s grin widened, as though excited to finally be able to talk about it. With some satisfaction, however, Johnny just arched an eyebrow at him in a disinterested manner.

“So what?”

_“So_ …” Giancarlo was clearly remaining undeterred. “Don’t you care who it is? The possibility of meeting them?”

Johnny shrugged, moving to shove his hands into his pockets. “Eh, dunno. They would have to come up to me themself.” He didn’t care to beat around the bush for things like this. If he liked someone, he would tell them, and that was that. If someone liked him, then best they get it over with so Johnny could turn them down.

“Well, the thing is…” Giancarlo actually looked a little sheepish, and Johnny recognized that look. It meant he had done something that Johnny was not going to like. “I kind of, sort of, already told him that we would be at the tournament and that I would…nudge the two of you in the right direction!”

“What!” Several thoughts raced through Johnny’s head— _him_? As in another guy? _I’m gonna kill Giancarlo._ Did they know each other? Had they met before at one of the parties? _I’m gonna kill Giancarlo!_ “Why the hell would you try to play matchmaker without me knowing? I don’t even know who he is!”

“Maybe you do, maybe you don’t!” Johnny wanted to smack the grin off of Giancarlo’s face. “Besides, is there really any harm in it? Maybe you’d take a liking to him yourself! And you’d be doing the both of us a favor.”

“How is that?” Johnny bit out.

“If you come along and participate, I’d be fulfilling my promise of nudging you two together, and maybe, just maybe, you won’t end up dying alone after all if things work out!”

Johnny had half a mind to strangle him, but he quelled that desire. He had been slowly but surely trying to manage better control over his temper. “And then what if things don’t work out after all? You’ll have wasted all of our time and dragged me along for nothing.”

“Just give it a chance, Johnny. Give _him_ a chance!” Giancarlo had the gall to walk over to him and sling an arm around his shoulders. Johnny had never hated the other blader’s height advantage over him more.

“And you’re not even gonna tell me who he is, right?”

“Nope, not quite. That would just take the fun out of it for me.” Giancarlo grinned even as Johnny squirmed free of his grasp. “I’ll be pulling the puppet strings from the sidelines.”

Johnny scowled at him before looking to where they had left Ralf and Olivier. “And does anyone else know about this? Besides you and…whoever the guy is?”

“This little secret belongs to the three of us!” Giancarlo paused to think about it for a second. “And possibly some of his teammates, but still.”

Johnny released a long and heavy sigh. He was annoyed, namely at Giancarlo, but he couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t slightly curious deep down. Since his teammate was pushing for participation at the tournament, that meant this mysterious blader had to be part of one of the invited teams. Johnny had to know him then, but the question remained of whether or not he knew him well.

Was it, by some chance, a member of the Battalion? The two teams had gotten to know one another pretty well, despite what they had done to Johnny and his teammates in order to steal their spots in the championships. They knew Barthez was to blame and didn’t hold it against Miguel or his team, and they were the only ones Johnny could think of that reasonably knew him well enough to even like beyond friendship. Well, them and the BBA team, but Johnny definitely had his doubts in that department.

“Well?” Giancarlo prompted, perhaps thinking Johnny’s silence meant he was considering it. Johnny scowled at him for a little bit longer before his expression softened, arms loosely crossing as he leaned against the nearby wall. Just as he was about to answer, however, both turned at the sound of approaching footsteps. Ralf and Olivier appeared not much longer after, walking over to where the two were having their mostly one-sided discussion.

“We were wondering what was taking you two so long,” Olivier explained with some amusement as he looked between the two. “Are you still trying to convince him, Giancarlo?”

“With something that couldn’t be shared with the rest of us?” Ralf arched a brow, evidently confused by Giancarlo’s need to separate from the rest of the pack.

“Perhaps you two will learn in good time.” Giancarlo gave them a little wink. “I think it’ll be worth it if Johnny here—”

“Fine.”

“What?” His teammates all looked over at him. Johnny glanced back at them before looking down at the floor, glad that Giancarlo hadn’t told the other two about their situation.

“I’ll go. Let’s do this little tournament thing.” Johnny gave a nonchalant shrug, trying to ignore the triumphant look on Giancarlo’s face.

“Oh, excellent!” Olivier smiled. “We should let them know right away that we’ll be participating, then. It’s not much longer until we’re supposed to meet at the new BBA building in Japan with the other teams.”

“I’ll get right on that,” Ralf said as he turned to leave, but not before casting a slightly bewildered look between Johnny and Giancarlo, wondering what the blond blader could have said to get Johnny to change his mind.

“The rest of us should start heading home to pack what we need.” Olivier looked between his two remaining friends. “Then we can meet up again before heading over to Japan.”

“Sounds like a plan to me!” Giancarlo grinned. After one last pointed look cast in Johnny’s direction, he and Olivier started taking their leave, discussing one thing or the other. Johnny was paying their conversation no mind, so long as Giancarlo didn’t rat out what was supposed to be taking place between Johnny and some mysterious blader.

Standing alone in the hallway they were previously occupying, Johnny exhaled sharply before beginning to walk off as well. He wondered if he was making a mistake, letting Giancarlo live out some weird fantasy of playing cupid. Surely there couldn’t be any other way to end this developing situation but in disaster, right? Johnny wondered if he would even be able to concentrate on his beyblading if he kept looking at every other male blader, wondering if they could be the one Giancarlo was talking about. The very thought of that made Johnny irritated with himself. How pathetic would it be to lose focus in a tournament over something like that? Over someone Johnny wasn’t sure he knew or would even feel for? He shook his head at himself with a scoff before pressing on.

No matter what ridiculousness Giancarlo had planned, Johnny wasn’t going to let that get in the way of securing the Euro Team their long overdue victory in the tournament to come.

* * *

There seemed to be a strange energy in the air, but maybe that was just Max’s imagination. He glanced around at his friends as they stood gathered near the entrance of the new BBA building in waiting, none of them saying much. Hiromi was leaning against her suitcase, stifling a yawn as Kyoujyu was tapping away on his laptop beside her. Daichi was picking at his ear as he looked around the pristine interior of the building, and Takao seemed to be growing with impatience at each passing second.

“Where the hell are they?” he finally burst out, looking between them all wildly. “Geez! We’re supposed to be getting registered!”

“Rei’s coming over with the White Tigers from the hotel,” Kyoujyu reminded him without looking up from his screen, “and Kai is… Well…”

Max released a quiet sigh, Hiromi telling Takao to pipe down in the background before the two began a little squabbling match of their own. Takao seemed uncharacteristically on edge, Max had observed. He had been for the past few days, ever since the small team reunion they had. Max had gone to see him the following morning like he told himself he would, but he hadn’t gotten much from that interchange.

Takao had been strangely evasive, skirting around Max’s questioning of his well-being and blaming it on nerves for the upcoming event. He was behaving almost like Kai, but while their former captain was like a closed book, Takao was just the opposite, plainly laying it all out for Max to see. He had never seen Takao become agitated over a beyblading tournament. Excited, yes, and brimming with enthusiasm, but Max was almost insulted by how little Takao seemed to think of his intelligence to think Max would believe the front he was putting up. The late arrivals of Rei and Kai only seemed to be making things worse.

“Come on, Takao, they’re not gonna bail on us.” Max laid a reassuring hand on his grumpy friend’s shoulder. “They’re probably just…preoccupied with stuff!”

“Don’t they know we can’t properly register without them?” Takao began mussing his own hair, nearly knocking his hat off. “Even if we register with Daichi, we’re still a blader short!”

Max gave him a stern look. “We’re not replacing either of them—no offense, Daichi. You’ve just got to relax, alright? Plus, because of all the traveling, the teams have all day to register.”

“Yeah, and it’s not our fault you decided to round us up at nearly the crack of dawn,” Hiromi said, resting a hand on her hip as Daichi crossed his arms. “They might have accidentally slept in or something.”

Takao didn’t respond as he crossed his arms in turn, his fingers tapping repeatedly against his elbow. Max’s brow furrowed as he looked from him to the others. Takao had his moments, sure, but it was alarming that none of the others seemed to think there might be an underlying, non-tournament related cause to Takao’s strange behavior. Kyoujyu might have, having known Takao even longer than Max, but he was mostly focused on his work, no doubt reviewing past data on the other bladers to give the BBA team an edge.

“Um… I know!” Max put on a bright smile as though it would improve the mood. “Why don’t we go grab some breakfast while we wait?” They hadn’t had much time to do anything else but gather their things before Takao was shepherding them to the new building, having thought they had a limited timeframe to properly register their team. It was only upon arrival that they were informed teams were being given the whole day to arrive and check in, and they had been waiting for their remaining members ever since.

“That sounds good, but what about our stuff?” Hiromi looked down at her luggage. “Think we should just check in at the hotel first?”

“Can’t hurt to try.” Takao seemed to be in a marginally better mood at the prospect of food, Max couldn’t help but notice with amusement.

“Let’s get cracking, then.” Daichi took the lead back to the receptionist’s desk, but as they were crossing the lobby, Max perked when he noticed a group of individuals approaching the entrance. A genuine smile appeared on his face as he reached out to Takao.

“Look—Rei and the White Tigers are here!” Max had expected him to look relieved, happy, but there was a brief instant where Takao seemed to freeze, his expression reading the furthest thing from joy. Then, Takao was smiling and heading over to greet Rai and his teammates. Confounded by his friend’s display, Max trailed after Kyoujyu and the rest to mingle with the White Tigers.

“Took ya long enough! Takao was about to lose it if you hadn’t gotten here when you did,” Daichi explained to Rei with a wide grin.

Rei mirrored the expression, though his was also apologetic. “Time got away from us. Sorry about the wait.”

“Rei has a whole beauty routine to get through every morning,” Kiki joked with a snicker, and he and Daichi shared a laugh at the look Rei shot him.

“Anyway…” He looked around at them all. “At least I beat Kai here, but I guess that’s not much of an accomplishment.”

“He’ll probably be here when we get back from breakfast,” Max offered, giving the interior another quick sweep. He had tried to avoid doing it much, especially when there was just the one main entrance. It wasn’t like the guy could phase in and out of walls or anything.

“Mind if we join you guys on that?” Rai asked with a smile, having apparently read Gao’s mind upon noticing his teammate’s change in expression at the mention of food.

“Not at all! The more, the merrier, right?” Takao grinned at this, but it seemed to falter when Hiromi looked excitedly to Mao and said, “That’ll give us time to catch up! You’ll probably get busy once the tournament starts.”

Max tried to brush it off. His own paranoia was probably just causing him to imagine things. But what did he have to be paranoid about to begin with? That Kai was going to bail on them after all, despite telling Max otherwise? Kai wouldn’t have lied to him for no reason though, right?

“Earth to Max, you in there?” Max blinked back into reality, right as Daichi began knocking on his head as if to check and see if anything might start rattling around.

“Ow—yes, I’m here!” Max quickly swatted his hand away before retreating a safe distance to rub at his head.

“You okay? You seemed kind of out of it there.” Takao stepped into his line of vision, trying to see if he had any bumps forming like in cartoons. Max almost laughed at the irony of Takao’s concern and choice of words.

He almost called Takao out on it, but instead Max patted his hair before giving him a smile. “I’m fine! I just thought—I dunno, I thought Kai would be here by now. He said he was going to be here.”

“If he said he would, then he will.” Rei, apparently having caught their conversation, spoke up. He gave Max an encouraging smile before his expression became thoughtful. “He _did_ actually tell you that, right?”

“He did!” Max affirmed with earnest. Takao gave him a funny look.

“Was it the night we all got together? You went and talked with Kai after?” Takao scratched at his head in amusement. “I wondered why you’d gone the wrong way.”

Max felt his face flush as the slight heat of embarrassment at having been caught crept up the back of his neck. “I just wanted to catch up, is all.”

“It _had_ been a while since we saw him,” Rei interjected with a light smile, coming to Max’s rescue before the others could think too hard about him chasing Kai down.

“Might be the last time we see him, too,” Takao muttered, crossing his arms behind his head. Max shook his own slightly in disagreement, or at least in wanting to. It was true that they hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Kai since that time, and Max couldn’t stop picturing a scenario in which Kai entered the tournament as the fourth member of Neo Borg instead—or something along that line.

“Well, maybe he’ll be here waiting for us when we get back,” Kyoujyu offered, adjusting his spectacles.

“Yeah, _maybe_ …with another team.” Takao’s stubborn expression was too humorous for Max to be upset at his constant implications that Kai was a traitor through and through.

“ _Maybe_ …he’s just behind you,” Rai interjected with an amused arch of his brow. After gaining some confused looks, he gestured with his chin not in the direction of the lobby’s entrance, but to one of the interior hallways leading to other sections of the building. Walking towards them was Kai himself, expression unreadable with his scarf drifting behind him. Max felt himself grin as relief replaced his earlier paranoia and doubt.

“Took you guys long enough to get here,” Kai said with a small smirk once within their vicinity.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Takao’s stubborn expression had become a petulant pout that none could take seriously, crossing his arms tight against his chest. “We’ve been waiting for you, asshole!”

“Me?” Kai coolly cocked a brow. “I’ve been here for the past hour testing out the training areas they have. I was starting to think I might have to register myself.”

“Well, we’re glad you finished up when you did,” Rei smiled as Takao silently seethed in the background. “We were just about to head off for a bit, but now we can get registered before dropping our stuff off.”

Kai simply nodded at this before the two teams headed to the front desk. Max, walking slightly behind, looked up at him in quiet observance. Was it weird that Max hadn’t said anything to him yet, or was he overthinking it? Kai happened to take that moment to glance back at Max, who managed to flash him a quick smile in what he hoped was an inconspicuous manner before facing forward again as Takao and Rai began speaking with the woman to register.

“Are you going to be registering as our fearless leader again?” Max found himself asking, recalling back to when they had first become a team. Kai didn’t immediately respond, just watching the scene before him for a moment longer before looking down at Max.

“If you’re up for the grueling training this fearless leader is going to put you through. Otherwise I might have to decline this time.”

Max smiled. “Are you telling me you’re passing the torch over to Takao now?”

“I said fearless, not stupid, Max.” A snort of laughter escaped him before Kai continued, clearly not having been serious about his slight negging of Takao’s leadership capabilities. “Maybe you could be the BBA team captain now.”

Max snorted again, but this time it was from disbelief at the other blader’s joke—and the fact that Kai was subtly joking with him to begin with. “Yeah, right! No one would seriously make me the captain over any of you guys.”

Kai just stared down at him for a moment, unsmiling, and Max started feeling a little awkward. The mood from their little banter had taken a strange shift.

“I’m being serious, Max.” His tone and expression clearly indicated as much, and Max was at a loss. It was a strange way to segue into…complimenting him?

Max forced out an awkward laugh and was spared from having to respond when Takao and Rai finished registering the respective teams. Max tried to focus on what he was telling them about the following procedures, but he couldn’t help but glance up at Kai from time to time. He had to have been joking about Max becoming captain, yet taken strange offense at Max downplaying his capabilities as a blader in favor of him and the others. Maybe Kai had recalled the time Max had bested him a while back and wanted to believe him a better blader than he was to explain that small victory over him.

“After we get checked in at the hotel, we can go grab some grub,” Takao finished explaining, causing Max to blink back into reality.

“I’m already checked into one of the rooms since I first came with the White Tigers,” Rei said, looking between his teammates, “so someone can room with me and the other two can share—you know, to keep us participants all together, since Daichi and Kyoujyu will be roommates and Hiromi has her own.”

Max and Takao looked at one another at the same time, mirrored grins on their faces. “I guess Takao and I will take the other room!” Max cheerfully announced, looking back at the rest of their team.

“Is that really a good idea?” Kyoujyu asked a little weakly. “I feel like the two of you will just keep each other up all night, and you both need your full rest—especially with the tournament starting so soon!”

“He has a point.” Rei crossed his arms in thought, a small smile tugging at his mouth.

“I can keep Takao in check!” Max offered, Takao not even bothering to look offended at the insinuation as they slung their arms around each other.

Hiromi shook her head. “No, no—one of you should be with Rei and the other with Kai. You know, to balance things out.”

Max blinked when he suddenly felt Takao stiffen under his arm as he quickly said, “Well, uh, I can room with Kai, and Max can take the other bed in Rei’s room.”

“No,” Kai said so sternly and abruptly that it caused them to flinch in surprise. “You go with Rei.” Max suddenly found himself meeting Kai’s intense eyes, as if the blader was silently telling him they would be rooming together. Max felt a sudden rush of nerves at the prospect, but not in an unpleasant way.

“That sounds fine to me.” Rei shrugged, but Takao seemed like he was about to protest. Max couldn’t tell if his expression was happy or mortified. Was Takao somehow mad at Rei or something?

“Okay, then!” Hiromi clapped her hands together. “Once we check into the hotel, we’ll dump our stuff, then meet up in the lobby with the White Tigers to go out! Sound good?”

Everyone voiced their agreements as they set off, conversations beginning to overlap as they made the short walk over to the nearby hotel designated for the participating teams. Max looked over to Takao and gave him an apologetic smile at how the rooming system turned out, but Takao was staring at his feet, appearing to be in deep thought. Max’s brow furrowed as he faced forward again. He wondered if trying to ask Takao about it would just have him dodging his questions again.

The two of them rooming together might have been a good opportunity for Max to find out what was bugging Takao and help him out, but if he was being honest, the current arrangements weren’t bad either. Max felt strangely nervous, even though he and Kai had roomed together in the past—even shared a bed. Perhaps it was because they always had the others with them that it seemed less…intimate. Besides, it wasn’t like they only had the one bed on top of rooming together. Max was certain Kai would mostly keep to himself anyway, as was in his nature, but it was still a little nerve-wracking to think about. Maybe, just maybe, Kai would come to open up to him just a little bit more.

“We just need to get these guys checked in,” Rei was explaining to the front desk receptionist as they all stood in the hotel lobby. Hiromi had already gone on ahead to drop her luggage off while the White Tigers were lounging in the lobby area to wait for the BBA. Kyoujyu and Daichi were soon to head up to their room, leaving Max with Kai as Takao followed Rei to the room he was already situated in. Max tried to keep an eye on his friend as though to try and discern if he really was upset with Rei, but Kai prodded him in the back a second later to get his attention.

“Come on,” he said before taking the lead to follow after their departing teammates, pulling his suitcase behind him. Max was quick to follow, not wanting to do anything that might make Kai annoyed with him right as they were to share a room together.

After a swift elevator ride to the upper floor, Max saw that their rooms were situated next to each other—which only made sense, considering they were all teammates. He tried to give Takao a grin at the prospect of them still being able to hang out with ease and get into some hotel shenanigans in their off time, but Takao’s eyes seemed glued to the floor as he trailed after Rei into their respective room, appearing almost hesitant to do so.

Max’s eyebrows immediately knitted together in both confusion and concern. _Okay_ , he thought, _there is definitely something going on with Takao about Rei_. 

“Max,” Kai called sharply from the open door leading to their own room, and Max snapped back to attention before quickly following him inside. He gave the room a quick sweep, taking note of the usual nice furnishings and the two beds separated by a nightstand.

Max looked up at Kai with a smile, gesturing loosely to the beds. “Take your pick.”

His former—maybe current?—captain wordlessly moved over to the closest bed and set his stuff beside it, leaving Max the other one. He did the same with a smile, soon turning back toward the older blader before jumping in surprise with a yelp when he saw Kai suddenly looming over him, apparently having followed Max over to his bed.

Kai pressed something against his chest, apparently deciding against acknowledging the near heart attack he had given Max. “Don’t lose this,” he said simply once Max had scrambled to grab it, then turned to head back out of the room. Max blinked before staring down at the key card, releasing a sigh as his shoulders sagged. Maybe rooming with Kai wouldn’t be the most ideal situation if Max was going to be so skittish around him.

Back out in the hallway, all of the BBA members reunited before heading down to the lobby to group up with the White Tigers in waiting. There was a brief debate on where they should go eat, but Gao ended up triumphing in the end. Takao had barely said a word during it, and Max kept an eye on him as they all began exiting the hotel towards their dining destination. When the others were preoccupied, Max fell into step beside Takao and grabbed his arm, lightly tugging him back to put some distance between them and the group ahead.

“Takao,” Max said softly, “are you doing okay? I just noticed you’ve seemed kind of…off lately. You can talk to me, you know. I’m here for you, no matter what it is you’re going through.” His tone was serious to convey his desire for Takao to speak truthfully instead of covering up with another front like before, but he gave his friend a smile in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. Takao just looked at him for a second, the two of them having come to stop along the sidewalk as the others continued on.

“I don’t know, Max,” was all Takao said at last, in a manner and tone unlike him, before silently continuing on after the others. Max was left staring after him at a loss, his concern only mounting as he was torn between pursuing Takao to get him to open up or letting him be for now.

Not far ahead, Kai had stopped upon noticing some of their party was missing. He had been quietly watching them, but Max didn’t know for how long. His amethyst eyes followed Takao as he walked passed him without acknowledgement as he continued after the others, his capped head lowered after divulging so little to Max, before Kai looked back at him. With a small sigh, Max started walking forward to catch up, noticing Kai falling into step beside him as they both went.

Max didn’t know how much of that Kai had gotten, but he said nothing to Max as they walked on in silence. If he had any words of comfort or wisdom, none of them came Max’s way, but strangely enough, just being in Kai’s presence in that moment calmed Max’s nerves. It was one thing for the stoic blader to be closed off, but Max couldn’t deny his wounded feelings now that even Takao was shutting him out.

Maybe the tournament would help take Takao’s mind off of whatever was plaguing him. Beybattles always got him in a good mood, and Max figured that would be a good physical way for him to work through whatever he was dealing with. It was ironic to think the fun event seemed to be doing more harm than good; Max couldn’t recall Takao behaving in such a way before the tournament had started to come about, and he himself couldn’t focus much on beyblading when one of his friends was in clear distress. Max was certain it had to do with Rei then. The special event itself couldn’t have caused Takao to feel this way, but it _had_ brought them all back together. Max recalled Takao’s recent behavior around Rei, from their reunion to just a while ago when Takao was told to room with him. There had to be something going on, but Max didn’t think Takao being upset with Rei was quite right, like he had suspected as a possibility earlier.

Had something like this happened before? The two of them had always been good friends, but perhaps there had been a few instances where Takao had seemed a little fidgety around Rei—if Max was even remembering correctly. Maybe he had just brushed it off as Takao being himself; the guy was usually ramped up most of the time anyway, but there was now a good chance that Max had been misinterpreting that behavior.

“He’ll talk when he’s ready,” Kai said suddenly, quietly. Max glanced up at him, but Kai was still facing forward as he walked. Max wondered if he’d just imagined him speaking or if the other blader had somehow been reading his mind.

Max only gave a quiet hum of consideration in response, hoping that the ever-intuitive Kai was right and that Max didn’t have to spend the entirety of the tournament constantly fretting over Takao’s state of mind and well-being. 

* * *

After they all returned to the hotel from eating, Takao blurted out some excuse about getting some training in before quickly departing from the group to head back to the BBA building. He hadn’t bothered lingering around long enough to hear any of their responses; he just wanted to put some distance between him and his team—from Rei. Takao needed to get himself in order if he was going to be rooming with his old crush. Max was already highly suspicious and concerned, but Takao felt like he would die of embarrassment if anyone found out about his unfortunate secret.

Takao knew it wouldn’t go anywhere, in any case. Rei and Mao were happy together, and he had always had a feeling that the two would find their way back to one another anyway. It was just frustrating that Takao still had to _like_ Rei like that regardless of what he had been expecting and now knew to be the truth. Seeing them at breakfast was hard, even though it shouldn’t have been, and all Takao wanted was to be happy for them. Was that too much to ask for?

Takao found himself pacing down the same hallway he had walked down earlier before finally realizing he had no idea where he was going. He had gone in the direction Kai had presumably emerged from earlier, so he figured it couldn’t have been more complicating than that to find the training areas. One option would be to go back to the hotel and ask Kai where exactly he went to train, but Takao wasn’t in the mood for his snark—if that was what he was going to get. Max being there might balance it out, but Takao wasn’t ready to answer any of his friend’s concerned questions. The other blader had thrown him several worried looks all throughout breakfast, though Takao couldn’t blame him for that. He had developed quite a reputation just for his eating habits alone, and for him to have mostly played around with his food was a definite warning sign—even though Max had really been the only one paying enough attention to take notice. Maybe Kai, too, with him always somehow knowing more than he let on, but he usually didn’t take the initiative on conversations over one’s well-being.

“Screw it!” Takao turned back around and stomped in the direction of the building’s lobby. He would just ask the person behind the desk where the training areas were. That would be better than wandering around blindly—and probably what he should have done in the first place.

When Takao made his way back to the lobby, however, he perked upon noticing the arrival of more teams in the area. Grinning, Takao decided to make a beeline for them, starting with the PPB All Starz as they were stepping away from the desk upon getting their team registered. Behind them was the F-Sangre trio, talking amongst themselves. Takao made eye contact with them a second later and waved just as he crossed paths with Michael and the rest of his team.

“Hey, guys! Looks like you made it, huh?” Takao’s grin widened as he and Michael finished exchanging a handshake.

“Hell yeah we did. Wouldn’t miss out on something like this.” Michael smirked as he adjusted his cap, Takao then noticing the number of members on their team.

“Hey—Steve!” He blinked in surprise. “You guys registered with five members?”

“Steve had to miss out the last time because of his injury,” Emily explained, “so we managed to work out an agreement with the chairman.”

“Rick and I will be able to swap in and out for some of the challenges,” Steve said as the other blader nodded beside him. Takao hummed at this in surprise, thinking back to Daichi and wondering if they could have done the same if they asked. Then again, F-Sangre always had less than the usual number of team members, so special exceptions shouldn’t have been surprising.

“Speaking of—where’s the rest of your team?” Eddy asked as he peered around Takao.

“Oh! They’re back at the hotel.” Takao gestured with a jab of his thumb. Thinking back to them, of Rei specifically, was bringing back unpleasant feelings in his gut, so Takao quickly asked, “Do you guys know if some of the other teams are coming yet? So far I’ve only seen the White Tigers—and you guys, now.”

Emily adjusted her glasses. “Hmm… Neo Borg was invited, right?”

“The European team is coming,” Michael supplied, and Rick gave a snort while the others exchanged subtle looks.

“ _Which_ European team, though?” Rick gave a small chuckle as he smirked, and Takao could only assume the earlier reaction of the All Starz had been out of confusion. “There’re two of them, remember?”

Michael rolled his eyes before his expression set into a small scowl, as though he was annoyed, but Takao thought his ears were starting to look a little red. “If I was referring to the Battalion team then I would’ve _said_ the Battalion.”

“Ralf and his team are coming?” Takao felt a rush of excitement at this news, all previous confusion over the All Starz’s behavior forgotten. It had been a while since he had been able to battle with the German blader. He wondered how strong the four of them had gotten, remembering the last time they went head-to-head.

Emily, appearing to be fighting back a smile, said, “It would appear so. Maybe the Battalion will be coming with them, since they’re both from Europe and all.”

“That makes sense! I heard they actually got pretty close, even after what happened at the previous championships.” Takao scratched at his chin.

“Well…” Eddy appeared to be thinking before flicking at his nose with his thumb, smiling. “We should probably get checked into the hotel and dump our stuff. Catch you later?”

“Definitely!” Takao grinned with a nod. He wandered over to the F-Sangre trio after the All Starz departed, initiating some light conversation with the twins as Romero was busy getting them registered.

“From the sounds of it, Raul and I might have the advantage in some of these challenges,” Julia was saying with a rather pleased smirk, especially at Takao’s look of envious surprise at the implication.

“What, did the chairman tell you guys something he didn’t share with the rest of us?”

“Maybe.” Julia tapped at her chin as she glanced elsewhere, her voice deceptively nonchalant in its slyness. Raul looked from his sister in amusement to Takao, who was clearly itching for her to share what secrets she might be keeping from him.

“He really didn’t say anything specific,” Raul began before Takao could start an interrogation, “he just… _implied_ that our extensive experience in tag-team battles would come in handy, you know?”

“Hmph, I guess.” Takao crossed his arms as Julia shot her brother a mock look of annoyance before smiling at him, her arms moving to mirror his.

“Anyway, it looks like Romero has finished with the registration,” she glanced back at the desk, “and…flirting with the receptionist.”

Takao gave a snort before giving them both a grin. “Well, I’m sure I’ll see you guys around soon—either here or back at the hotel.”

“What are you going to be up to?” Raul asked curiously upon noticing none of Takao’s teammates with him.

“Oh, uh, probably get some training in. Maybe wait around and see who else shows up,” Takao said as casually as he could. He wasn’t quite ready to head back to the hotel just yet.

“Who all is left?”

Takao thought about this before ticking off his fingers. “Well, there’s you guys, the All Starz, White Tigers, and us, of course, so… That leaves the Battalion and Neo Borg. Ooh, and Michael told me the Euro Team is definitely coming.”

“Oh?” Julia’s brows rose at this. “It’ll be nice to see what those guys can do.”

Takao grinned and nodded emphatically. “Oh yeah, the Euro Team is made up of some pretty strong bladers.”

“I guess we’ll see soon enough.” The two of them exchanged smiles before parting ways with Takao, reuniting with their coach and pulling him away from the receptionist in order to get to the hotel. When F-Sangre was gone, Takao managed to get his directions to the training areas before making his way over, deciding he would check back every now and then to see when and if the rest of the teams would arrive.

Although it had been brief, being able to speak casually with the other bladers made Takao feel better and had taken his mind off of things. It was almost a little embarrassing to think back on how emotionally dramatic he was being about his crush on Rei, about Rei and Mao being together, about having to room with Rei—basically, all things Rei. It was, to put it frankly, a little pathetic… But maybe Takao was being too hard on himself; maybe it was understandable for him to feel that way.

He had realized his feelings for Rei during the time the BBA team had first come together. It wasn’t an immediate realization, of course, but that was perhaps the first time he realized he ever felt that way about someone. Just a little crush, Takao had thought, and it frustratingly came and went. He refused to consider that it had become something more, even when it was having this much of an effect on him. Of course it hurt to know your long-time crush would never feel the same way and had become romantically involved with someone they had so much history with—history stretching long before Takao and Rei met. The outcome was expected, but Takao hadn’t considered having to room with the guy after the fact. He thought he’d be goofing around with Max while his romantic interest in Rei fizzled out with time and reasonable distance.

_Still_ , Takao thought as he stepped over to one of the unoccupied beystadiums, _it’s_ _not the end of the world_. There was a lot to look forward to, from reuniting with the other bladers to the tournament itself and what it had to offer. Just chatting it up with the All Starz and F-Sangre made Takao feel a little more like himself, and while he figured his mood might still fluctuate until the hold Rei unknowingly had on his emotions lessened, he could keep his attention occupied with matters that didn’t render him an emotionally distressed mess—for both his and Max’s sake. Takao felt a stab of guilt at thinking of Max worrying over him and told himself he would return to the hotel feeling right as rain.

After a while longer of testing out a few maneuvers with Dragoon to show off in the tournament, Takao called the beyblade back to his hand. He studied it for a second, as though checking for any nicks or other signs that warranted an inspection from Kyoujyu, but he knew Dragoon was in perfect working order. The bit chip gleamed momentarily across Seiryuu’s image as though in reassurance.

Takao smiled before starting for the exit, his beyblade still clutched in his hand. “Let’s go see if anyone else has gotten here yet—and may be up for a friendly beybattle or two.” 


	3. Let the Games Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny comes to an understanding while Max, slowly but surely, seems to be reaching one of his own. Meanwhile, the tournament is finally underway.

It was already evening in Japan when the Euro Team pulled up to the BBA building. With them was the Battalion, as the two teams had traveled together taking Ralf’s private means of transportation. Johnny felt a brief wave of apprehension as they all approached the entrance to get registered, and he wondered if they would cross paths with any of the other teams. He didn’t let it distract him too much, but during their flight he did wonder if it was any of the Battalion members that could be the guy Giancarlo told him about—save for Mathilda, of course. She was currently conversing with Miguel, Giancarlo, and Olivier, and by the way she and Miguel had been acting throughout their journey, Johnny was beginning to think he could cross the Battalion’s captain off his list of suspects…which had really just included him, Aaron, and Claude so far.

“What are you doing skulking around back there?” Giancarlo was looking back at him, apparently having just noticed Johnny keeping to himself as Ralf and Miguel were busy getting them registered.

“Nothin’. I’m tired from the traveling.” Johnny made a point of ignoring the shit-eating grin on Giancarlo’s face as his teammate sidled up beside him.

“Tired from the flight, or tired from the _suspense_ of not knowing?” Giancarlo hissed loudly into his ear, and Johnny swatted him away before Olivier and Mathilda could question what they were doing as they turned to look back at them. He dragged his suitcase over to where Ralf was speaking with the receptionist, daring his blond teammate to pester him further as Johnny scowled at him from afar. Agreeing to Giancarlo’s little scheme was like making a deal with the devil, and Johnny was an idiot for not having really thought things through.

“The opening ceremony is tomorrow morning,” Ralf said as he turned back to his team, “so we should all head straight to the hotel to get our rest, even if it's just to introduce the teams and tournament.”

Miguel looked to his own team in turn. “Aaron and Claude, you two will be rooming together. Mathilda will be with me,” he glanced over to the girl, “if that’s alright with you?”

She smiled and nodded, looking rather pleased as Giancarlo’s hand shot into the air.

“Ralf, I would like to request being Johnny’s roommate.” Olivier looked at Giancarlo in both an affronted and curious manner as Johnny and Ralf responded simultaneously.

“ _No_.”

“What? Why?”

“Come on, Johnny! This way I can really help you out with your little problem, _wink-wink_.” Giancarlo elbowed the air in his direction as he gave an exaggerated wink, and Johnny felt a spike of annoyance at his meddlesome behavior—and that he thought it was necessary for him to both do and say that.

Ralf sighed, looking between them as though wondering if it would be worth the trouble of hashing things out or if he should snuff out the argument then and there. Miguel seemed to take notice as he and the rest of the Battalion were slowly starting to inch back towards the exit.

“So we’ll, uh, see you guys at the hotel later?” Miguel smiled like he hadn’t already put several feet of space between him and the other European team.

“Or tomorrow morning?” Aaron offered, and then the four of them quickly turned and made their escape without waiting for a response.

“What’s going on here, Giancarlo?” Olivier demanded, arms crossing. “First you snuck off with Johnny the other day, and now you’re trying to room with him?”

Giancarlo waggled a finger in the air. “All will make sense in good time, my friend. Besides, this gives you and Ralf a chance to cozy up while Johnny here and I tend to…another matter.”

Ralf coughed loudly, cutting across the spiel Johnny was about to unleash on him. “I don’t really care what you three decide so long as we can get to the hotel soon. With how early we have to be up, I don’t want to appear anything less than presentable to the other teams.”

“Then you and me can room together while those two shack it up.” Johnny waved a hand vaguely in Giancarlo’s and Olivier’s direction, the former actually frowning for once before a wicked smiled curled up the corners of his mouth. Johnny felt himself stiffen slightly at the look.

“Okay, fine.” Giancarlo shrugged, appearing nonchalant before locking eyes with Johnny. “I guess I’ll have to tell Ralf and Olivier about our little agreement, then. You know—to explain why I’ll be needing to stop by your room so often. Hey! Maybe they can help you figure out who the guy is, Johnny.”

Olivier immediately snapped to attention while Ralf was steadily starting to age in appearance at how long the discussion was taking. Johnny felt heat rushing to his face as he and Giancarlo stared each other down, perhaps out of anger or embarrassment—but probably both, if he was being honest.

“Who _what guy_ is?” Olivier demanded at once, head turning back and forth to look between them both. “What are you talking about?”

“ _No_ - _thing_ ,” Johnny said through clenched teeth. He stared Giancarlo down for a little longer before exhaling slowly and bringing himself to relax. Giancarlo would have nowhere to escape from his wrath if they ended up stuck together, and Johnny found himself smirking at the opportunity. That would teach him, if Giancarlo ever tried to threaten him again. “Alright, the two of us can be roommates while Ralf and Olivier take the other room.”

Giancarlo cocked a brow. “Really?”

Johnny could tell by his expression that he knew there might be a catch, but Ralf quickly jumped at the opportunity.

“Alright! This is officially settled, then. Let’s go to the hotel and—”

“Ralf!”

Their captain looked simultaneously annoyed and exhausted as he turned to see who was calling for him, but his expression changed when they saw it was Takao jogging over to them.

“Ralf! It really is you guys, huh?” Takao slowed to a walk as he drew nearer, panting a bit with his beyblade clutched in his hand. He pocketed it before his fists went to his hips as he looked around at them with a grin. “Michael told me you guys were coming, but it’s great to see you all in the flesh for a change.”

Johnny frowned to himself at something while Ralf smiled as he and the other blader firmly shook hands. “It’s good to see you too, Takao, but I feel like we saw one another not too long ago.”

“Yeah, that might be true.” Takao rubbed his nose, thinking back to the last time one of the little parties had been hosted. “I guess I mean in a different setting. It’s awesome to see you guys entering as a team!”

“I guess, even though we did for the last championships,” Johnny reminded him. He and Ralf had been there when they discovered Barthez’s sleazy tactics to secure his team their victories.

“Oh! That’s right.” Takao laughed. “Say, did Miguel and his team end up coming with you? You guys got pretty close despite what happened before.”

“Yeah, we all flew in together, but they went ahead to the hotel just now.” Olivier cast a shrewd glance between Johnny and Giancarlo before smiling back at Takao. “So you’ll definitely see them around, if not tomorrow during the opening ceremony.”

Takao nodded with a grin. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m guessing you guys are starting to head over to the hotel now, so I’ll let ya go.”

“Thank you, we’ll see each other in the morning,” Ralf said with a curt nod in Takao’s direction, pulling up his luggage. Johnny and the other two did the same as their captain started for the exit.

“See ya, Takao.”

“Later, guys!”

Johnny stared daggers at the back of Giancarlo’s head once their backs were turned to the world champion, having not forgotten his beef with the other blader and the audacity Giancarlo had to have actually tried to blackmail him into doing what he wanted. Perhaps the Italian blader could sense the waves of anger radiating from Johnny behind him, as he appeared deeply enthralled with whatever he and Olivier were discussing, but the furtive glances Giancarlo threw back his way were not unnoticed. Johnny smirked. _Let’s see how much you’ll like being roommates with me now…_

As Ralf moved to push the door on their way out, it was already pulled open by someone making their entrance. Yuriy Ivanov of Neo Borg glanced up in mild surprise, the rest of his team trailing behind him as he stopped.

Ralf blinked. “Oh—pardon us.”

Yuriy said nothing in response, but he stood aside for them as he held the door open. Johnny gave him and the rest of Neo Borg a quick glance, neither of the teams saying anything as they just appeared to survey one another in silence.

“Thank you,” Ralf said after another beat of silence, and Yuriy nodded curtly. Neo Borg continued inside and Ralf led his team out and down the pathway in the direction of the hotel. Giancarlo whistled lowly after glancing back at the entrance, his free hand moving into his pocket.

“So those guys are also participating, huh?”

“Wonder if we’ll get a chance to battle them,” Olivier mused. They had seen firsthand what Yuriy and his teammates were capable of—from their ruthless battles at the world championships against the BBA a few years back to the most recent finals that took place that left them runner-up again. Johnny knew they had changed significantly, but it was still a little unnerving to think of how they once were.

Giancarlo and Olivier discussed various possibilities and scenarios all along the walk over to the hotel with Ralf and Johnny quietly listening. Johnny let himself become distracted by it—but only for a moment. He stood waiting as Ralf got them checked in before passing out the key cards, and Johnny deftly took the two keys to their room before flicking one over in Giancarlo’s direction.

“C’mon, Giancarlo, let’s get to our room.” He gave his teammate an overly friendly smile, taking satisfaction at the unease in Giancarlo’s eyes as he hesitantly returned the look.

“Oh—yeah…”

Olivier cast the two of them another suspicious look before trailing after Ralf, who was moving in a hurry to get to their room and away from whatever drama was going on between the rest of his team. Johnny slapped Giancarlo on the back in passing, definitely a bit more forceful than needed, as he followed them to the elevator. Once the four were in the appropriate hallway and split up, Johnny casually strolled into his and Giancarlo’s room to wait, tossing his suitcase to the side.

“Now, Johnny…” Giancarlo meekly stepped into the room. Johnny, his back to him, could tell he was lingering. “I know you’re probably upset with what I said before, but let me explain—”

“Giancarlo.” There was silence behind Johnny, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Yes?” Giancarlo said at last, still lingering at the door. He was probably waiting to see if he would need to make a quick escape.

“It’s Michael, isn’t it? From the American team?” There was silence behind him again, but this time Johnny knew it had to be out of surprise.

“Huh?”

“The guy you’ve been harassing me about.” Johnny finally turned to look at him, arms crossed. “The one you said likes me. It’s Michael, right?” Johnny was still pissed about his attempt to blackmail him, but seeing the flabbergasted look on Giancarlo’s face after having to suffer from his infuriatingly smug ones recently was quite satisfying. Johnny felt another smirk tug at his mouth.

“I—You—How did you know?” Giancarlo inched closer, perhaps thinking it was safe to be within five feet of Johnny now.

“What Takao said earlier, about knowing we were coming.” Johnny’s smirk widened as Giancarlo’s confusion only seemed to grow. “I didn’t think anything of it at first; it’s been in the news about which teams were confirmed to participate, but Takao didn’t say it was that or even the BBA chairman. It was a very specific person—one who doesn’t seem like he would know what we were up to, unless one of us gave him that information.”

Finally, realization seemed to dawn on Giancarlo. “Oh… Shit.”

“So now that I know, Giancarlo,” Johnny began, slowly walking over to him, “you can’t dangle it over me anymore, but as for telling the others, like you tried to _threaten_ me with earlier…”

“Now wait a minute, Johnny—Johnny, hold on a second—” Giancarlo quickly started for the door before yelping when Johnny grabbed a handful of his shirt collar and yanked him down to his eye-level.

“If you even _think_ about telling Ralf, Olivier, or anyone else about you convincing me to come to this damn tournament over some mystery guy like this is some sappy romance flick, I will make sure you won’t even be able to talk once I’m done with you. _Got it_?”

“Yep. Yep. Understood.”

“Good.” Johnny smiled as he let Giancarlo go, who quickly straightened up and scrambled back in case he changed his mind and decided to hit him after all. “This situation is officially out of your hands now. I’m gonna go take a shower.” Johnny strode over to his suitcase to grab what he needed, and he could still feel Giancarlo’s confused stare on him.

“What?” he asked without looking over.

Giancarlo hesitated for a second, and then asked, “What are you gonna do about Michael, then?”

Johnny brushed passed him with his things on his way to the bathroom. “That’s not any of your business now, is it?” He heard Giancarlo click his tongue in disappointment as the other blader went to put his stuff away next to his designated bed.

“Fine! Michael will just tell me anyway.” Giancarlo’s tone was smug as he jumped onto his bed, and Johnny paused in the bathroom’s doorway as he considered something before looking back at him.

“Oh—and you’re not gonna tell him that I know, got that?”

Giancarlo scowled over at him from his position on the bed, arms crossed behind his head. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just wait, you’re gonna come begging for my help in no time. I’m a _master_ when it comes to romance!”

Johnny snorted before shutting the bathroom door behind him, not bothering to grace Giancarlo with a response. Who said there was even going to be any romance he would need help with?

* * *

“Is that Kinomiya?”

Takao, who was starting to make his way back to the training areas, jumped at the sound of his name and turned to see who was calling him out. He was pleasantly surprised to see that Neo Borg had shown up after all, and he grinned before jogging back over as they stepped further into the lobby.

“Yuriy—guys!” Takao looked around at them all as they either nodded or gave a little two-fingered salute, in Ivan’s case.

“Is your job to greet the incoming teams or something?” Boris asked, somewhat amused as he tilted his brow. “Thought we saw you talking with that European team on our way over.”

“Oh, not really,” Takao laughed. “I was just getting some training in and decided to stick around to see who all would be showing up. Hey—guess that means everyone that was invited is here now!”

“I guess you’re off-duty as the BBA greeter, then.” Yuriy had a faint smile as Takao looked at him. “Are you still going to be training?”

“Hm…” Takao crossed his hands behind his head as he considered it. “It’s starting to get late, so I’ll probably be heading back to the hotel now. We’ve gotta be up for the opening ceremony thing, and I don’t want to oversleep and hold my team up, heh.”

Yuriy started for the front desk. “Come back with us, then. We’re heading straight over after we get registered here.”

“Oh!” Takao blinked before smiling. “Yeah, sure. We can catch up on stuff.”

As Yuriy busied himself getting Neo Borg registered, Takao hovered in the back with the other Russian bladers. He wondered if Max and the others were worried about how long he had been gone, but Takao figured if they were, they would have stopped by to check on him at some point. Takao wasn’t feeling as queasy in the stomach thinking back on the situation he was in now, so that had to be a definite good sign.

“Let’s go,” Yuriy said to his team after making his way back to them. As they began trailing out of the BBA building, Takao led the way over to the hotel but fell into pace with Neo Borg, launching into a conversation about what all they had been up to between then and the few times the team had shown up to the last get-together Takao had attended. Although he was on good terms with all of the teams, Takao didn’t keep in regular touch with them outside of his teammates, least of all the elusive Neo Borg.

“So Kai can keep in contact with you guys, but not with us, huh,” Takao mused, aware his expression was pulling into a childish pout but unable to help it even as he heard Boris and Ivan snicker at his expression.

“Don’t take it in offense,” Sergei said from behind him.

“We’re not even in contact with him at all times, necessarily,” Yuriy said as he faced forward. “We just have a…mutual understanding. Similar experiences and all, and he was our teammate for a time.”

Takao snorted. “Don’t I know it. I heard Max had to really twist your arm to get Kai’s number to check and see if the guy was still alive.”

Yuriy made a noise that sounded both amused and irritated at the memory. “Kai reaches out to us every now and then, but he was constantly on the move. I would have told your friend that, but I don’t think he would have cared either way. I expected Kai to be cross once he found out it was me that told Max, but he didn’t seem to mind.”

“Huh.” Takao frowned to himself. “I wonder why Kai has to bounce around so much—or feel like he has to.”

“You’ll have to ask the guy yourself,” Boris said with a shrug. Takao hummed at this as they came up to the hotel, leading the way inside. There was a brief hold as the team got checked in, and Takao waited for them in the lobby until they re-grouped. When it came time for them to part ways upon arriving to Neo Borg’s destination from the elevator, Takao smiled around at them as he held the doors open.

“Well! I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning.”

“We’ll see you at the ceremony,” Yuriy nodded, and then he and the rest of his team took off down the hall as Takao continued onto the next floor. He stepped towards the doors once the lift stuttered to a stop before jumping back with a yelp when someone nearly walked into him in their haste to get on.

“Takao!” Max jumped backwards, then quickly reached out with his hand to stop the doors from closing. “There you are!”

“We were just heading down to look for you,” Kyoujyu, evidently accompanying him, explained with a sigh. “We’re all about to head down to the hotel’s restaurant for dinner and wanted to get you.”

“Oh—sorry, guys.” Takao gave an apologetic chuckle before quickly stepping out of the elevator. It didn’t hit him until the mention of food how starving he actually was, having worked himself right through lunchtime. “I was catching up with the other teams. I didn’t worry you too much, did I?”

Max shifted a little awkwardly on his feet, and Takao guiltily thought back to the last actual interaction the two of them had. “Oh, I mean, just a bit.”

“I’m fine!” Takao said quickly, and he meant it. “Sorry about that. I know we gotta be ready for tomorrow morning, but I’m fit as a fiddle now.” He flexed his arms for emphasis, glad to see relief on Max’s and Kyoujyu’s faces.

“Geez…” Kyoujyu sighed before straightening up. “Well, that’s good. Now that you’re back, we can re-group with the others and head down together. Did all of the expected teams show up?”

“Yeah!” The three of them started walking down the hallway to their rooms. “I don’t really know what kind of challenges we’re gonna have, but I do know we’ve got crazy competition from the other teams.”

Their conversation largely consisted of speculation of the tournament and what to expect from the other teams as they walked back to their rooms. Hiromi, who had been lingering in her doorway in waiting, looked around at them as they came into view.

“There you are!” She frowned at Takao, and he knew it was out of concern for him—and a smidge of annoyance. “Maybe give us more of a heads-up the next time you disappear on us for hours at a time. You just ran off without saying much.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Takao waved a hand as though in disinterest before giving her a more proper and apologetic smile. “Sorry, Hiromi. Just wanted to be ready and scope out the competition a little. Where’s everyone else? I’m starving!”

Hiromi fought back a smile. “When are you not?”

“We just need to grab Kai and Daichi,” Max said, heading for his room, before looking back as he continued with, “Rei headed out with the White Tigers a little earlier. He said he wouldn’t be out too late, but he’s probably eating with them.”

“Oh! Okay.” Takao shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant under Max’s gaze until his friend looked away to go and alert Kai while Kyoujyu went to fetch Daichi. The news didn’t bother Takao much; he was actually a little relieved. He would try to get to bed before Rei got back, and then from that point on he would focus on the tournament.

Once the whole group—minus Rei—was together, they headed back down to the lobby where the in-house restaurant was. They were pleasantly surprised to see the All Starz already converging there, and the two teams pushed some tables together so that they could all mingle with one another. Takao was mostly focused on shoveling food into his mouth to be talking much, but he was actively listening in on the overlapping conversations happening around him. A slightly flustered Kyoujyu was asking Emily about one thing or another that sounded too complicated for Takao to care too much about, and Max was catching up with Rick and Michael. Kai got stuck in the corner seat next to the trio, but if he was annoyed, Takao thought he was doing a pretty good job of hiding it.

“I’m surprised Director Judy isn’t here with you guys,” Hiromi peered around Takao to say to Steve and Eddy.

“She’ll be here soon!” Max chirped from further down the table.

“She had to take care of some stuff back home,” Emily further explained, “so we went on ahead of time for the stuff happening tomorrow, but she's still our coach.”

Takao swallowed a mouthful of food before leaning back in his seat to look over at Max, knowing he must be excited. “That’s great, Maxie!” His friend flashed him a smile before returning to the conversation at hand with Rick as Takao returned to focus on his food. While it shouldn’t have come to a surprise to anyone at that point, Takao managed to put a lot away by the time the conversations began winding down with the two teams ready to head back up and turn in.

After the elevator ride up, they bid the All Starz a good night before making the journey over to their rooms. They didn’t have much energy for further conversations besides saying their good nights before going their separate ways, and Takao stifled a yawn as he trudged over to his room when Max called out to him. Takao paused and looked back, Max’s head peeking out of the doorway.

“Yeah, Max?” Takao prompted upon his hesitance. Max looked at him searchingly for a second longer before smiling.

“You good, Takao?”

“Yeah. I’m good.” He actually was, and he would continue to be.

Max nodded, satisfied, before stepping back into his room. “Okay. Good night, Takao!”

“Night!” Takao smiled to himself as he heard the door click shut before stepping into his and Rei’s room. It was essentially as he had left it earlier that morning, but Rei had settled in a bit, some of his things neatly set aside on his bed or in the bathroom. Takao realized he didn’t know exactly how long they would be at the hotel; he hadn’t needed to pack too much, as he wasn’t too far from home, but the other teams coming from out of the country had brought a lot. Takao shrugged before heading into the bathroom to change and settle down for bed.

He had just pulled the covers over himself and shut off the light next to his bed, leaving Rei’s on for him when he got back, when Takao heard the click of the lock before the door was carefully pushed open. He felt a jolt in his chest as Rei quietly stepped inside, taking care not to make too much noise upon noticing Takao in bed and, presumably, sleeping—even though his characteristic snoring and nightly rambles weren’t filling up the room as usual. Takao, laying with his back to him, considered faking it as Rei got ready for bed, but he remained silent as his teammate went about his nightly routine.

“Good night, Rei,” Takao said suddenly, his voice a little muffled with his cheek against his pillow. He couldn’t tell if Rei was surprised by him still being awake or not. There was the shifting of blankets as he settled down into the bed.

“Good night, Takao. Sorry we couldn’t hang much today,” Rei whispered back, and then the click of his light submerged them both in darkness. Takao involuntarily smiled into his pillow before rolling onto his back with a sigh as he closed his eyes, knowing that the swoop of butterflies in his stomach just then would be settled by morning. Nerves of a different kind would take their place once the tournament officially began, after all.

* * *

Max found himself jolting awake the next morning, and for a dazed second he wondered if he had overslept. But that couldn’t be right; Kai would have gotten him up sooner if he had. Squinting as he rubbed one of his eyes, Max looked over to Kai’s bed at the thought of him and noticed it was empty before realizing the light in the bathroom was on. Sitting upright, Max stifled a yawn before swinging his legs out of bed. He realized he was actually up a little sooner than he needed to be, but he figured it couldn’t hurt to start getting ready now.

Max looked up as Kai emerged from the bathroom just a moment later, the tips of his bangs damp from washing his face as he was patting his face dry with a small towel.

“Morning,” Max greeted as he stretched his arms above his head. Kai looked over at him from beneath the towel and nodded in acknowledgement as he sat on the edge of his bed, facing him. He moved the towel around his neck, and Max found himself staring in surprise. It was, he realized, the first time he was seeing Kai without his trademark shark fins—or were they shark teeth? He had always gone to bed with them on, Max remembered, and he dimly recalled a time when he wondered if they were actually tattooed onto his face back when the BBA team had first been formed. That obviously couldn’t have been right, though; how would Kai have been able to get tattoos at that age?

“What?” Kai finally asked upon noticing the look Max was giving him.

Max smiled before getting to his feet. “Sorry. I just don’t think I’ve seen you without your face markings before. You look a little…soft without them, if that makes sense.”

Kai grunted in amusement, tossing the towel aside as Max walked over to the bathroom. “ _Soft_ … I don’t think I’ve ever been called that before.”

Max laughed before closing the bathroom door behind him, going through his morning routine before stepping back into the room. Kai had already gotten dressed while he was gone; all that was left was the face paint. Max realized he was lingering in the doorway when he noticed the expectant look Kai was giving him.

“Sorry—do you need the bathroom again?”

“Just the mirror.”

Max quickly stepped aside for him, assuming it was to get the finishing touches done on his face. While Kai was busy doing that, Max got dressed himself and plopped down onto his bed to wait until the other blader re-emerged completely ready.

“You probably have a lot of experience by now, but I still don’t get how you can get those on so evenly,” Max said in reference to the shark fangs.

“I use a stencil.” The corner of Kai’s mouth twitched at the look on Max’s face. “I’m kidding. Like you said—a lot of practice.”

“Oh,” Max laughed before hopping to his feet. “Should we see if the others are up yet?”

Kai shrugged. “Can’t hurt.”

He turned and headed for the door, pulling it open and holding it for Max before they both stepped out into the hallway. They went knocking on their teammates’ doors to see who all was up, Rei, Hiromi, and Kyoujyu still in the middle of getting ready while the remaining two were still asleep—though that wasn’t much of a surprise to any of them. By the time they were all ready, Hiromi went after Takao to get him up while Kyoujyu tried again to rouse Daichi. The rest had to wait several more minutes before the two finally looked presentable enough to join them.

“We’re a little pressed for time, so we should head straight over to the BBA building,” Kyoujyu said as they started heading for the elevator.

Takao looked a little sheepish. “Heh, sorry about the hold-up.”

“It’s fine,” Max grinned at him. “We’ll still make it to the opening ceremony.”

They didn’t see any of the other teams down in the lobby and assumed they were going to be the last ones to arrive. At Hiromi’s insistence, they broke out into a jog as they made a beeline for the BBA building but were forced to slow to a stop when they saw the traffic flowing into the entrance. Fans and spectators were in line to get to their seats, and they broke out into excited chatter and cheers when they saw the team.

“Crap!” Takao yelped, but he was unable to fight off the excited grin on his face. “I didn’t think it would get this packed just for the opening ceremony! It’s not like any matches are happening today.”

“We need to get through!” Kyoujyu tried to say above the noise, holding his laptop above his head as though preparing to dive through the crowd.

Max looked around the exterior of the building. “Is there a side or back entrance we can sneak into?”

Fortunately, some of the security members regulating the crowd took notice of them and were carefully able to usher the BBA team inside, pointing them out to where they needed to go. They quickly scrambled over, turning and heading down a wide and secluded hallway until reaching a large set of double doors that was designated for the participating teams based on the sign on its exterior.

Kyoujyu hesitated as Takao walked over to pull them open. “Are we all supposed to go in or just you four?”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Rei said with a smile. “You guys are still part of the team, after all.”

“Yeah!” Takao pulled them open, Max and the others peering around him curiously before realizing it was like a waiting area. All of the other participating teams were already inside and standing or lounging about, some of them noticing the BBA team’s late arrival and exclaiming their greetings. Max grinned in excitement as they stepped inside. The All Starz and White Tigers he knew of, but it was exciting to see the others as well—F-Sangre, Neo Borg, the Battalion, and the Euro Team, to Max’s pleasant surprise.

“About time you guys made it,” Kiki chided with a grin. “We were all starting to think the BBA team was gonna be a no-show.”

“As if!” Takao said with a snort.

“I take it we’re all here waiting for the opening ceremony to start?” Rei said as he sat down on one of the nearby ottomans.

“Yep.” Julia had wandered over with her brother. “They’re going to be announcing the teams one-by-one, so we’ll just be waiting for our queues whenever this thing starts off.”

“That guy over there has the list in order and where we need to stand.” Raul pointed, and Kyoujyu quickly darted off towards him with an anxious cry, no doubt wanting them to be fully prepared. Max chuckled as he sat down in the available seat next to Rei, noticing some of their teammates had wandered off to mingle with the others. Hiromi was chatting up Mao, Mathilda, and Emily, and while he had been expecting Kai to head over to Neo Borg, Max actually saw Takao heading their way, starting a conversation with Yuriy and Boris after waving at the Euro Team. He blinked at this before realizing Kai had sat on his other side, giving a look of acknowledgement to his former teammates but otherwise refraining from any mingling for the time being. Daichi actually seemed to be speaking with Ralf and his team about one thing or another, joined shortly by the other members of the Battalion.

“Nervous?” Max asked Kai with a smile, as though that might be the reason why he was keeping to himself even though Max knew better. Kai looked at him sideways.

“Hardly. Are you?”

“Kind of.” Max faced forward with a grin. “Out of excitement, though. I’m really glad we’re going to be a team again.” Max could see out of his peripheral that Kai turned to look at him.

“Me too,” he said quietly, and then Kai got to his feet to head over to Neo Borg when Max had looked over at him to make sure he had heard him right. There was an unexplainable heat that suddenly rushed to Max’s face that he didn’t have time to ponder on when Rick suddenly clapped a hand onto his shoulder, making him jump in surprise before looking up to find that he, Eddy, Michael, and Steve had wandered over.

“Max,” he said in greeting as he sat where Kai had been moments before. “How’s it going?”

“Going well,” Max replied, exhaling with a smile. “What about for you guys? Anything change since I saw you last night?”

“Nope,” Michael said as he adjusted his cap, not looking down at Max as he seemed to be giving the area a sweeping glance. “Just waiting for this thing to get started.”

“Looks like you’re getting your wish.” Eddy gestured with his chin as the security guy Kyoujyu had chased down earlier was starting to gather the teams together based on their order of appearance.

High up on the wall, the large TV was powered up to show the interior of the stadium that was just beyond the doors where the teams were being lined up. The BBA had gone all out with their new building—the wide array of seats were packed with cheering fans as the camera panned around, and standing on the stage behind a raised podium was the chairman himself, occasionally waving to the audience eagerly waiting for the teams to appear and take their places. On an elevated platform was the familiar figure of the Blader DJ, speaking animatedly into his mic to get the audience hyped up as they waited. Soon, the DJ began preparing the audience for the first team, and the security man quickly gestured for the Battalion to ready themselves before he and his partner shoved the doors open.

“…ladies and gentlemen, improved and re-branded from the last time you saw them, I give you: the Battalion!” The thunderous sound of cheering was heard both from the TV and right beyond the doors as the Battalion filed out, raising their hands in greeting before taking their places in front of the chairman’s stand. As each of the team members of the Battalion were being introduced, leading up to Miguel as the captain, F-Sangre was prepping to go as Takao looked back at Max and the rest of the team with a wide grin as he tapped him in the shoulder with his fist. Max returned the look before watching as F-Sangre walked out and took their places next to the Battalion. From then on it was the Euro Team, the White Tigers, and the All Starz, the crowd’s cheering only seeming to increase in volume each time the next team went out. Neo Borg stood at the ready as the Blader DJ began announcing their arrival.

“Hailing from Russia, and the runner-up in the previous world championships, it’s _Neo Borg_!”

Max actually flinched at the screams that erupted from the crowd, both emanating from the TV and just beyond the doors. Although the team got into place, the chairman and DJ allowed the audience to cheer for them a little bit longer before introducing each of the members, finishing off with Yuriy as the captain. The security team quickly re-arranged the BBA members as the DJ prepared for their arrival, making sure Takao was at the front before getting Kai behind him. Max yelped when he and Rei bumped shoulders as the other blader was moved in front of him, leaving him and Daichi at the rear, as the latter was their alternate. Before Max could question where Kyoujyu and Hiromi had gone, they were quickly being ushered out.

“And last but certainly not least, reunited with our reigning world champion, the one—the only— _BBA team_!” The DJ dragged out the final syllable over the deafening roars and cheering of the crowd. They waved to the audience on their way to their positions on the far right beside Neo Borg. Max was unable to keep the grin off his face, and Takao was milking the attention for a bit longer before Kai had to get him to settle down. The Blader DJ began introducing each of the members above the screaming crowds.

“As their alternate, here is: Sumeragi Daichi!” He gave pauses between each introduction to allow the crowds time to cheer. “The King of Defense: Mizuhara Max!”

Max lifted a hand to the cheering audience, giving a little wave and sheepish smile even though he was basking in the attention.

“The fierce and lightning-fast combatant: Kon Rei!”

Rei lifted his hand in acknowledgement as well, looking around at the crowd with a collected and even smile.

“Returning captain and member of the BBA team: the formidable Hiwatari Kai!”

Kai briefly glanced around at the audience but otherwise showed no reaction to the deafening sound erupting from all sides. Max couldn’t help but look up to where he was with an excited smile at the confirmation of his role.

“And though this young man needs no introduction, here is our reigning world champion himself: _Kinomiya Takao_!”

Takao threw both arms into the air as he waved around at the crowds cheering for him or yelling his name, his grin practically stretching from ear-to-ear. Although the DJ allowed the crowd a bit longer to get their excitement out, he eventually had to get them to settle down himself before being able to continue on. 

“After all that came to happen leading up to the fall of BEGA, many have been anticipating the next big thing to come in the world of competitive beyblading,” the DJ said to the crowd. “What of the BBA, who had to start from the ground up? What about the world championships we’ve all come to love and look forward to? Well, wonder no further, folks! Here leading this ceremony is the man with the answers to your questions, the chairman himself: Mr. Daitenji Kogoro!”

More cheers erupted from the crowd, and the elder man raised a hand in appreciation before the audience settled back down. Chairman Daitenji stepped up to the microphone attached to his podium, delicately clearing his throat to the side before leaning forward to speak.

“Everyone! Thank you for joining us here today, from each and every one of you in the stands, to our superb teams here themselves!” He gestured to them all as more cheers and applause sounded from all around.

“It has been a long time coming getting the BBA back up to speed, and without those of you here, we might not have gotten this chance had BEGA been able to proceed as planned. The world of beyblading as we know it would have changed forever, its meaning lost to needless pomp and frills, to flashy displays of showmanship and glamour. Of course, not that there is necessarily anything wrong with theatrics, it comes down to what the sport is really about and what the BBA has ultimately worked to promote that the BEGA League sought to destroy: a sense of community; of kinship and rapport. Beyblading is for any and all who wish to participate, no matter their status or background. The world championships, while competitive in nature, have always kept that in mind. Teams from around the world and all walks of life, no matter how different they may seem, will always share a common ground in their passion for beyblading. Win or lose, at the end of the day it’s about the fun you had and the people you were able to share that experience with.”

Although Max felt impassioned by the chairman’s speech, he looked over upon Daichi nudging him to get his attention before quickly muffling his snort of laughter at the exaggerated and overemotional look Takao flashed back at them all as a joke.

“Now, we are all finally gathered here today for the official commencement of something I have been planning for a while. This consideration of what beyblading is really all about first brought this idea into my head—something just as exciting as the world championships, but not quite like anything we’ve held before. Although the championships are very much team-based, the way in which the battles were held ultimately isolated the combatants even if their teammates were with them in spirit. The prevailing team is overall victorious, yes, but it still left the final winning member crowned as the world champion.” There was a knowing look in the old man’s eyes as he skimmed the group of teams, and Takao pretended to look bashful as he waved at the whooping crowd until a thwack on his hat from Kai sobered him up again.

“So! Rather than conveying the idea of one sole teammate winning the title, the BBA has put together a new kind of beyblading tournament that we hope will prosper in the future—a tournament where you cannot succeed without the full cooperation and unification of your team; a tournament featuring a series of challenges that both promotes and strengthens the bonds shared between your fellow teammates… Everyone, I give you: the Amity League Games!”

The giant screens on both ends of the stadium that were displaying the teams as the camera panned around them went dark before the logo for the Amity League flashed into view. There was excited murmuring in the crowd followed by more cheering, and the chairman looked rather pleased before continuing.

“While we look forward to the return of the world championships in the future, we are introducing the Amity League as a subsidiary of the BBA to oversee the operations of this tournament,” the chairman explained. “There will be a total of six games, and a week will be given prior to the start of each one in order to let our teams here prepare and train. In order to give our fans across the world a chance to spectate, each of the games to come will be hosted within a different country as well. The teams, of course, are given additional time for the traveling in addition to their allotted week for preparation. During these instances, the teams—as well as those of us joining in the audience—will be gathered much like today in order to introduce the next challenge before the teams take their week to prepare.”

All throughout his explanation, the screens high above them were going through a presentation of text and graphics in order to better illustrate what they were all to expect. It soon shifted until the screens were displaying all of the participating teams’ names and members. Chairman Daitenji addressed the crowd once more.

“For these games, each of the teams will be divided into a placement system, starting from first, to second, and so on and so forth depending on how well they do overall in the challenges to come. Our first challenge, as you might have guessed, will be taking place exactly one week from now here in Japan within this very stadium. A representative from each team will battle against all the other teams’ representatives in a free-for-all, continuing until each team member has participated. Points will be accumulated depending on how well our bladers here will do in standing their ground or knocking their opponents out of the dish. Further matches will take place as necessary if we end up with draws, and the team with the most points will take first place, and so on and so forth down the line. As our teams will be busying themselves with training, they will also have to determine in which order their four members will be participating and facing off against the others.” Chairman Daitenji smiled. “Of course, for certain teams, there will be a matter of deciding who among them will be battling again. Our participants will not be made aware of the order their opposition may be going in—not until the day of the challenge, of course. It will be up to the teams themselves to figure out the best strategy that plays to all of their strengths and weaknesses.”

There was a pause, likely for dramatic effect, as the crowd began stirring with overlapping chatter about the possibilities. Max could see some of the other teams turning to their members and whispering things to one another, and he also exchanged some glances with the Rei, Takao, and Daichi. Kai was still looking up at the chairman, who was preparing to speak again.

“This first challenge is a way to allow our participating teams to test the waters, as it were—nothing extraordinarily unorthodox, but still divergent from the usual matches that normally take place during the championships. From here on, however, the challenges to come will only continue to test and strengthen everyone’s bonds as a team.” Chairman Daitenji smiled around at the audience. “Although we still have a week to go until the first game, we hope you all will wait with eager anticipation to watch it all unfold!”

Even more cheering sounded from all around, and the chairman gently waved his hand to quiet them down a bit before continuing to speak.

“Unfortunately, now our teams must take their leave in order to begin readying themselves for the first challenge to come. However, in order to show our appreciation for all of you coming out to support them and the BBA, we have arranged quite a special treat for you to enjoy, and to show there are no hard feelings! Everyone, please put your hands together for singing pop star sensation: Ming-Ming!”

Max couldn’t help exchanging surprised looks with his teammates. On stage behind the chairman, the floor seemed to split apart before a decorated platform began rising up from the darkness, the diva herself in position with her band ready behind her. The deceptively innocent-looking girl gave a little wink to the crowd as the music kicked up, the audience screaming excitedly around her.

“You’ve _gotta_ be kidding me,” Daichi exclaimed from behind Max, sounding both exasperated and amused. Upon Max’s confused look, the shorter blader pointed out to a certain spot in the crowd: positioned in prime, front-row seats were a screaming Kyoujyu and a highly irritated-looking Hiromi trying to hold him back from jumping right over and rushing up to the stage as Ming-Ming began her performance.

“Oh my god!” Max laughed. “I guess he must have heard she was gonna be here and couldn’t miss out!”

“Poor Hiromi stuck baby-sitting him, though.” Rei couldn’t keep from laughing himself even though he had some sympathy for the girl.

Takao was cackling up ahead. “Maybe she should just let him go and let security handle him!”

Kai looked around at them all. “Let’s get moving.”

They had been too distracted by Kyoujyu’s display to notice the other teams were filing back into the previous area now that the audience’s attention was encapsulated by Ming-Ming’s performance. Kai was leading the way back, and Max ran forward a bit to fall into step beside him as Takao, Rei, and Daichi were still laughing over Kyoujyu.

“So looks like you’re gonna be our team captain after all!” Max grinned up at him. “I thought you were gonna pass this time.”

“Hm.” Kai was still looking forward as they walked. “You’ll have to ask Kinomiya. I hadn’t expressed any interest in being the leader again.”

Max glanced back at Takao before looking over at Kai again, smiling. “Well, I’m not complaining! It’ll kind of be like old times again.”

A small smirk appeared on Kai’s face as he finally looked down at Max. “You sure you won’t be complaining after the training I’m about to put you all through? I did warn you before.”

“I’m not scared,” Max said with a little self-assured chuckle, but he knew better than to underestimate Kai or take him lightly. “I can handle whatever you throw at us.”

Kai’s smirk widened as he gave a small chuckle himself, albeit with a slightly ominous undertone that promised to prove Max otherwise as he said, “We’ll see, Mizuhara.” He looked back at the others. “We’re hitting the training areas starting now. You too, Daichi; you need to be ready for anything if you’re going to be our back-up.”

“Seriously?” Takao whined with a scowl. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

Daichi grinned mischievously up at him. “Then why don’t you sit this one out while I take your place, _world champ_?”

“As if, twerp!”

“Come on, Takao, you made Kai our captain, and if he says we need to start training now, then we should.” Rei gave a little shrug with a smile. “I’m pretty sure all the other teams will be getting right to it as well, and we want to be ready even if this first challenge seems pretty straightforward.”

Takao ceased his complaining to some quiet grumblings at Rei’s words. “Shoulda made myself captain instead…”

“But you didn’t, so stop your whining if you want to win this tournament.” Kai smirked back at him before continuing to lead the way. They followed the rest of the teams through the waiting area and back to the main part of the building, stopping to get their bearings as the others continued on—no doubt to the training rooms.

“What about Hiromi and Kyoujyu?” Max asked, looking back in the direction of the stadium and where the Ming-Ming concert was still taking place.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Takao waved a hand. “Once Kyoujyu stops fanning over Ming-Ming, he’ll probably regain his senses and figure that we’re getting some training in. If not, they know the way back to the hotel, and we can meet back with them there.”

Rei looked over at Kai. “Speaking of training, what did you have in mind? Unless we can book private training areas, we might not want to be around the other teams and inadvertently reveal our tactics and strategies.”

“A lot of the space here is used for training.” Kai crossed his arms. “It shouldn’t be difficult to secure some privacy, and from there we’ll see where everyone stands and figure out what order we’ll proceed in after taking into consideration the other teams and their possible line-ups.”

Max considered something. “If that’s the case, we might want to wait for Kyoujyu and Hiromi after all. I know we’ve experienced battling the other teams in the past, but with Kyoujyu and his laptop, he’ll definitely be able to help us a lot with all the data he’s accumulated. Hiromi’s great at keeping us in focus during training, too.”

“Then maybe we can grab some grub until the concert’s over with!” Takao laid a hand on his stomach. “We had to skip out on breakfast this morning…”

Daichi snorted. “Whose fault is that?”

“Hey, you’re one to talk!”

“Knock it off.” Kai scowled at the two before addressing them all. “Max is right; we should have everyone involved for the training and strategizing. We’ll break for now, but we’re starting as soon as they get back.” He gave the blond blader a glance and a brief, faint smile before his expression became focused again. Max felt an unexpected jolt in his stomach at the look and Kai’s agreement with him. It was a small thing, but he felt rather pleased and looked elsewhere as he felt a smile tugging at his mouth.

Rei put his hands on his hips. “Okay, well… Should we grab some food after all while we wait? I missed out on the little hang-out last night.” He flashed a grin at Takao, who sputtered out a noise that was either in acknowledgement or agreement with Rei. Max stared at his friend for a second, his mouth slightly agape in confusion.

“Do whatever you want. I’m getting some training in now.” Kai was already turning to leave, taking Max’s attention away from Takao.

“Are you sure?” he asked, frowning slightly. “You should eat something—for energy.”

Kai simply raised a hand as he went. “I’ll get something later.” His tone became more authoritative. “We’ll reconvene in the lobby in an hour. That should be plenty of time for you guys to eat and for those two to get back.”

Max found himself considering going with him, but he glanced over at Takao and decided it was better this way. Takao had said he was doing fine, and he definitely seemed that way, but his reaction just then got Max curious. He didn’t want to pry, necessarily, but maybe spending some time with Takao away from beyblading might give answers to some of Max’s previous questions—answers his friend didn’t want to give outright.

Daichi looked back at where Kai went before back to the rest of the team with a shrug. “I say we wait around for Kyoujyu and Hiromi first. The concert can’t be that much longer, and if we’re late meeting Kai, then we’re late.”

“Well, we don’t want to make him mad,” Rei said a little wryly. Takao, having apparently recovered from his weird little spasm earlier, gave Max a rather mischievous look.

“If he is, we can just get Maxie to butter him up.”

Max’s eyes widened as he quickly looked over at the other blader. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He hated how suddenly warm his face had gotten at the implication. Takao was just teasing him, is all!

“You know that sourpuss has a little soft spot for ya.” Takao crossed his arms with a smile, looking between a mixture of amusement and annoyance, as though irritated that Kai had to be so frigid with people except for a fraction of the time.

“No he doesn’t. He has moments like that with everyone.” Max avoided looking at any of them until the temperature of his face returned to normal. He was annoyed with himself for getting embarrassed—and for feeling embarrassed in the first place. There was no reason for him to be!

“Uh-huh…” Takao sounded unconvinced, but he ceased teasing Max about it. “Well, we can probably go hang around the lobby until those two get back. Then we’re grabbing some grub!”

He darted off towards the main lobby, the rest following after with Max trailing slightly behind. He was watching Takao evenly, and then glanced over to Rei walking at a nonchalant pace behind Daichi as the shorter blader ran to catch up with Takao. Max frowned to himself in thought, arms crossing as he tapped his fingers against his upper arm. Takao thought Kai had a soft spot for him, huh? Takao, who had been acting rather strangely since the team’s reunion, showing hesitance and dismay at being told to room with Rei, suddenly going off on his own to train yesterday… Max’s frown deepened.

Takao had been joking around before, but was he the one with a soft spot for someone? At first Max thought Takao might be mad or upset with Rei over something, but maybe Rei was just an unintentional victim from something else that was causing him to behave that way. Did Takao… _like_ Kai? Max had noticed his strange behavior had started up around their reunion, and the fidgeting and frequent remarks over Kai’s distance, late arrivals, and questionable allegiance in the past—like Takao wanted to breach that cold exterior, in the way Max wanted to get him to open up as well. Takao had wanted to room with Kai when he and Max couldn’t, after all, and had made him the team captain. They always had their intense rivalry, so the idea of Takao’s feelings becoming something more wasn’t farfetched.

Max felt an uncomfortable turn in his stomach at the consideration. Not at all that he was bothered or surprised by the idea of Takao liking another guy, but if the guy in question was Kai… Not that it was any of Max’s business who either of them did or didn’t like! He had no reason to be resistant about the idea of the two of them getting together in the first place—right? Besides, Max could also be completely off about that. It was one explanation, but another possibility was Takao’s feelings towards Rei, when considering his behavior and the subtleties Max had picked up since reuniting with Takao. But Rei was with Mao, and Takao seemed to have tried to actively resist being in a rooming situation with Rei…unless that was the reason why he was trying to avoid Rei to begin with? To avoid seeing him with someone else, knowing they couldn’t be together?

Max’s head was going to explode with all the overthinking he was doing. This was all pure speculation on his part anyway; who was to say Takao liked anyone like that at all? There could even be a completely different reason for his behavior.

“Come on, Max!” Takao called back at him from up by the lobby’s entrance. Max realized he’d been so out of it he had completely missed Hiromi and Kyoujyu re-joining them, the latter still looking flushed and a little dazed from the amount of fawning he had done over Ming-Ming. Hiromi looked a little impatient, likely from having had to keep Kyoujyu in check, while Rei and Daichi were looking back at him as well. “We’re losing precious eating time!”

“Uh—sorry!” Max quickly jogged over to close the distance between them. He returned the smile Takao gave him before he and the rest of their teammates continued on, and Max couldn’t help it when his smile faltered a little when no one was looking. They were too distracted by Kyoujyu’s ramblings over Ming-Ming.

Takao was one of his best friends, even if they did butt heads on the rare occasion, and Max wanted to help him however way he could. If it turned out that Takao liked Rei, but Rei was happily with Mao, then the least Max could do was help take his mind off of things and ease whatever pain or discomfort he was feeling. That’s what Max would want if he were in a similar situation, and even though Takao might not want to talk about it or feel like he could share it with Max, he still wanted to be there for him.

And if Takao liked Kai after all… Well, what kind of friend would he be if he didn’t try to help his buddy out? Max would resolve to be a good companion no matter what, and yet, inexplicably, there was a small part of him that hoped that wasn’t the case—that if Takao _did_ like someone enough to become this distressed over, the person in question was someone else. Someone that wasn’t Kai.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i tend to think of them as shark fins, but apparently online it says they're shark fangs. xD also, hopefully the tournament/games don't sound confusing right now!
> 
> i'll be taking a break from starting chapter four to work on some art, both fanart and personal, so the next chapter will be a bit longer until it's up. ^__^ thank you to everyone who reads and comments! i really appreciate it all!


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